Author(s): Seyed Esmaeil Shafiei, Hamed Jafarpour, Zahra Madani, Hanieh Adib, Siavash Moradi, Parisa Islami Parkoohi, Zahra Safari
Patellofemoral
pain
syndrome
is
associated
with
a
decrease
in
the strength
of
hip
muscles,
especi
a
lly
the
abductor
and
external
rotator
muscles.
Hip abductors
control
the
knee
valgus
on
the
frontal
plane,
and
there
f
ore,
increasein
the hip
abduction
capacity
is
beneficial
forthepatients
with
this
syndrome.
This
study aimed
to
determine
the
effect
of
abductor
and
adductor
exercises,
in
addition
to knee
exercises, on knee
joint
pain
in
patients
with
patellofemo
r
al
pain
syndrome.
Method:
This
clinical
trial
inclu
d
ed
patients
with
patellofemoral
pain
syndrome
who visited
the
Sports
Medicine
Department
of
Imam
Khomeini
Hospital
Clinic.
The Numeric
Pain
Rating
Scale
(NRPS) was
used
to
evaluate
the
pain
severity
among the
pati
e
nts,
and
the
step-down
test
was
used
to
evaluate
the
knee
joint
function/per- formance.
Results:
The
mean
age
of
the
patients
was
33.4±6.1
and
33.7±7.3years
in the
abductor
and
adductor
groups,
respectivel
y
,
indicatingno
significant
difference (P=0.1).
The
improvement
in
the
NRPS
and
step-down
test
scoresafter
6
weeks of
training
exercises
wasstatistically
significant
in
both
the
abductor
and
adductor groups(P<0.05).
Howeve
r
,
only
the
mean
scores
of
the
step-downtest
after
the
exer- cises
were
significantly
different
between
the
two
groups
(P=0.03).
Conclusion:
The
resultsindicate
that
6
weeks
of
exercises
of
the
abductor
and
adductor
muscles,
specially
the
abductor
muscles,
help
reduce
knee
pain
and
improve
joint
function
in
patients
with
patellofemoral
pain
syndrome.