Assessment of muscle imbalance in unilateral patellofemoral pain syndrome in females of Peshawar

BACKGROUND: Knee pain is considered as one of the most common knee conditions occurring frequently in women. The term patellofemoral pain syndrome “PFPS” is often used conversely with “anterior knee pain” or “runner’s knee. PFPS is characterized by retro patellar pain (behind the kneecap) or peripatellar pain (around the kneecap) while going up and down the stairs, squatting or sitting with flexed knees. This can cause considerable morbidity and diminished quality of life (QOL).

OBJECTIVES: To determine muscle imbalance in unilateral patellofemoral pain syndrome in females of tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar.

METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional study in which data from all 118 patients was included. Non-probability, convenience sampling was used. The sample size 118 was calculated through OpenEpi.com version 3. For anterior knee pain, AKPS questionnaire was used and for muscle strength assessment Hand Held Dynamometer were used. For ITB length ober test with goniometer were used.

RESULTS: The results show a positive correlation between VMO and VL i.e 0.774** whereas the P value was P < 0.05 which show significance. The ITB length is 19.90 which show tightness and muscle imbalance of vastus medialis strength which is 1.56 and vastus lateralis which is 1.67.

CONCLUSION: The study’s findings indicate that a clinically defined PFPS population does, in fact, have a VMO-VL muscle imbalance. The current study also concluded that the ITB tightness is present during the PFS.