Evidence Based Conservative Management of Patello-femoral Syndrome

Abstract

Background: <br/> <br/><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: ArialMT;">Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is defined as pain surrounding the patella when sitting with bent</span> <br/>knees for prolonged periods of time or when performing activities like ascending or descending stairs, squatting or <br/> <br/>athletic activities. Patella dislocation is not included in PFPS. <br/> <br/> <br/>Purpose: <br/> <br/><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: ArialMT;">This review analyzes the evidence based conservative management of PFPS.</span> <br/> <br/>Methods: <br/> <br/><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: ArialMT;">A Cochrane Library search related to PFPS was performed until 18 January 2014. The key words were:</span> <br/>patellofemoral pain syndrome. Eight papers were found, of which three were reviewed because they were focused <br/> <br/>on the topic of the article. We also searched the PubMed using the following keywords: evidence based conservative <br/> <br/>management of patellofemoral pain syndrome. Twelve articles were found, of which seven were reviewed because <br/> <br/>they were focused on the topic of the article. Overall ten articles were analyzed. <br/> <br/> <br/>Results: <br/> <br/><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: ArialMT;">Different treatments can be tried for PFPS, including pharmacotherapy, therapeutic ultrasound, exercise</span> <br/>therapy, and taping and braces. <br/> <br/> <br/>Conclusions: <br/> <br/><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: ArialMT;">Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce pain in the short term, but pain does not</span> <br/>improve after three months. Therapeutic ultrasound appears not to have a clinically important effect on pain relief for <br/> <br/>patients with PFPS. The evidence that exercise therapy is more effective in treating PFPS than no exercise is limited <br/> <br/>with respect to pain reduction, and conflicting with respect to functional improvement. No significant difference has <br/> <br/>been found between taping and non-taping. The role of knee braces is still controversial. More well-designed studies are needed. <br/> <br/>