Reliability of a New Orthopaedic Test for Patients with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Abstract

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is one of the most common sources of anterior knee pain and accounts for 25% of all knee injuries reported in sports medicine clinics. Currently, there is no reliable objective manual test to confirm the diagnosis of PFPS.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the test-retest reproducibility of a new objective manoeuvre, and to estimate the validity of the new test using current standard methods for the diagnosis..

There were sixty subjects, thirty of whom were positively diagnosed with PFPS, and thirty controls. The procedure involved adduction of the hip, internal rotation of the lower leg, a lateral glide of the patella and full extension of the knee. The design of the study was single blind. Both groups were tested twice, with a three-week interval between tests.

The results revealed a high level of reliability in this new, manual, testing procedure for patients with PFPS. This test can now be applied in clinical practice to help identify those patients with the clinical diagnosis of PFPS.

Key Words:

• patellofemoral pain syndrome
• anterior knee pain
• clinical test