Lasting Improvement of Patient-Reported Outcomes 6 Months After Patellofemoral Pain Rehabilitation

Background/Objective: Hip- and knee-muscle-strengthening programs are effective indmproving short-term patient-reported and disease-oriented outcomes in individuals with patellofemoral pain (PFP), but few to no data exist on moderate-to long-term postrehabilitative outcomes. The first purpose of the study was to assess differences in pain, function, strength, and core endurance in individuals with PFP before, after, and 6 mo after successful hip- or knee-muscle-strengthening rehabilitation. The second purpose was to prospectively follow these subjects for PFP recurrence at 6, 12, and 24 mo postrehabilitation. Methods: For 24 mo postrehabilitation, 157 physically active subjects with PFP who reported treatment success were followed. At 6 mo postrehabilitation, pain, function, hip and knee strength, and core endurance were measured. At 6, 12, 18, and 24 mo, PFP recurrence was measured via electronic surveys. Results: Sixty-eight subjects (43%) returned to the laboratory at 6 mo. Regardless of rehabilitation program, subjects experienced significant improvements in pain and function, strength, and core endurance pre- to postrehabilitation and maintained improvements in pain and function 6 mo postrehabilitation (Visual Analog Scale/Pain pre 5.12 +/- 1.33, post 1.28 +/- 1.14, 6 mo 1.68 +/- 2.16 cm, P <.05; Anterior Knee Pain Scale/ Function pre 76.38 +/- 8.42, post 92.77 +/- 7.36, 6 mo 90.27 +/- 9.46 points, P <.05). Over the 24 mo postrehabilitation, 5.10% of subjects who responded to the surveys reported PFP recurrence. Conclusions: The findings support implementing a hip or knee-muscle-strengthening program for the treatment of PFP. Both programs improve pain, function, strength, and core endurance in the short term with moderate- and long-term benefits of improved pain and function and low PFP recurrence.