A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis of the Association between Changes in Muscle Strength and Clinical Outcome Changes in Patellofemoral Pain - PubMed
3 hours ago
- #patellofemoral pain
- #systematic review
- #muscle strength
- Systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the association between muscle strength changes and clinical outcome changes (pain and function) in people with patellofemoral pain (PFP).
- Analyzed 82 randomized controlled trials (4023 participants) using a two-stage structural equation modeling approach with random-effects estimation.
- Found significant associations between strength improvements in various lower limb muscle groups and reductions in self-reported pain, with correlation coefficients ranging from -0.24 to -0.91.
- Found significant associations between strength improvements in several muscle groups and improvements in self-reported function, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.46 to 0.98.
- Evidence certainty ranged from low to moderate for pain outcomes and from low to high for function outcomes.
- Conclusions support that improvements in lower limb muscle strength are associated with better pain and physical function outcomes in PFP, reinforcing the clinical relevance of strength-focused rehabilitation targeting knee and hip muscles.