Effects of whole-body vibration plus hip-knee muscle strengthening training on adult patellofemoral pain syndrome: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate whether whole-body vibration (WBV) plus hip-knee muscle strengthening is more efficient in relieving pain and improving function than hip-knee strengthening alone.

Methods

Thirty-six participants with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) were recruited and randomly allocated to either the (1) hip-knee strengthening only (HK group, n = 18) or (2) WBV plus hip-knee strengthening group (WHK group, n = 18). All participants attended 18 physiotherapy sessions (3 sessions/week, 40 min/session) over 6 weeks. Data on symptoms, function, surface electromyography (sEMG) signals from the vastus medialis and gluteus medius, and quality of life were evaluated at baseline (T₀), 6 weeks after (T₆), and the 12-week follow-up (T₁₈).

Results

Significant group × time interactions were found for the VAS score (p < 0.001) and vastus medialis performance (p ≤ 0.015). The WHK group exhibited a greater pain relief than did the HK group at T₁₈ (p ≤ 0.014). The WHK group exhibited significantly larger improvements in the RMS value than did the HK group at T₆ (p ≤ 0.011).

Conclusions

The present study shows that 6 weeks of WBV plus hip-knee strengthening can improve vastus medialis performance and maintain long-term pain relief to a significantly greater extent than can hip-knee strengthening alone.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• The present study shows that 6 weeks of WBV plus hip-knee strengthening can improve vastus medialis performance and maintain long-term pain relief to a significantly greater extent than can hip-knee strengthening alone.

Keywords:

• Patellofemoral pain syndrome
• vibration
• hip-knee strengthening
• exercise therapy
• randomized controlled trail

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Mr. Zexin Wu for his help in photography in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data on this article was open access for public, people can get the study results in ResMan website (http://www.medresman.org) (register number ChiCTR1900023068).