2018 consensus statement on treatment of Patellofemoral Pain
Patellofemoral pain (PFP) presents as pain around or behind the patella during loaded activities, such as squatting, stairs usage and running. It affects about 25% of the general population and persists as a chronic condition in about 50% of the cases.
Every 2 years, experts around the world gather to come up with an updated consensus statement on the treatment of PFP. This meeting particularly considered exercise therapy and physical interventions.
The consensus statement recommends:
- Exercise therapy to reduce pain in the short, medium and long term, and improve function in the medium and long term;
- Combining hip and knee exercises to reduce pain and improve function in the short, medium and long term;
- Combining interventions (exercise therapy + foot orthoses/ patella taping/ manual therapy ) to reduce pain and improve function in the short and medium term;
- Foot orthoses to reduce pain in the short term;
- Not using patellofemoral, knee and lumbar mobilisations in isolation;
- Not using electrophysical agents.
Although the consensus statement remained within the boundaries of exercise therapy and physical interventions, the discussion of this article provides further insight to research related to acupuncture/ dry needling, blood flow restriction training and gait retraining in patients with PFP.
Want to read deeper into this topic? You can find the free online full text version here!
> From: Collins et al., Br J Sports Med (2018) (Epub ahead of print). All rights reserved to BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. Click here for the online summary.
