Proximal muscle rehabilitation is effective for patellofemoral pain: a systematic review with meta- analysis, by Lack, Barton, Sohan, Crossley, & Morrissey, in British Journal of Sports Medicine (2015)
A small review on the outcome.
Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) occurs very frequently in young adult females. It is also the most common injury affecting recreational endurance runners. However, despite being so common, its exact cause remains unclear and diagnosis of PFPS is usually made once other, more easily diagnosed conditions have been ruled out.
OBJECTIVE:To perform a systematic review to assess the effects of hip and/or lumbopelvic muscle exercise for improving outcomes associated with PFPS and to compare the efficacy of hip and/or lumbopelvic muscle exercise with other types of rehabilitation.
What did the researchers conclude?
The researchers concluded that in the short term, there is strong evidence that combined hip and knee muscle exercise is better at pain reduction than knee exercise alone; there is moderate evidence that hip muscle exercise is better at improving pain than knee muscle exercise, and there is very limited evidence that hip muscle exercise reduces pain compared to a non-training control.
Findings from this study suggest that it is important to incorporate both knee and hip muscle strengthening programmes when dealing with knee pain. Especially for short term outcome.
