Comparison of The Clinical Effects Between Different Physical Therapy Tools in Patellofemoral Pain Patients

Patellofemoral pain syndrome ( PFPS ) is a common knee disorder. Factors that cause patellofemoral pain include: over use, soft tissue imbalance, and malalignment of lower extremity. Patients with patellofemoral pain, caused by soft tissue imbalance was thought to be favorite to receive physical therapies. Clinically, physical therapies for patients with PFPS are including: Quadriceps strength training, taping, and stretching exercise. The aforementioned treatment tools showed different effect mechanism. However, there were few clinical studies to compare the clinical effects among the aforementioned three treatment tools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the different effects among the quadriceps strength training, taping, and stretching exercise of iliotibial band in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome by randomized control trial study.

Methods:An observer blind, prospective, factorial design randomized controlled trail. 90 young adults with patellofemoral pain syndrome were randomly allocated into one of three treatment groups: (1) Quadriceps strength training, (2) taping, and (3) stretch. Each group received treatment for 8 weeks.

Outcome measures were including visual analog scales for worst pain, active-active joint reposition error test, the Chinese version of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, and one repetition maximum recorded at baseline and after the interventions for 8 weeks.