Stratification of patients with patellofemoral pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Stratification of patellofemoral pain patients; defining clinical sub-groups and targeting clinical interventions.
IRAS ID
211057
Contact name
Sam Church
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Fortius Clinic
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Patellofemoral pain (PFP), pain under or around the knee cap, is recognised as one of the most challenging orthopaedic conditions to manage. It is the most common cause of knee pain seen by clinicians and is estimated to affect up to 20% of the population. Alarmingly PFP is reported to become chronic in up to 90% of patients and is thought to be linked to the development of patellofemoral joint (PFJ) osteoarthritis (OA). While physiotherapy management is superior to sham treatments, current interventions fail to deliver satisfactory results in some patient groups. This lack of success suggests that not all of the factors contributing to PFP are being adequately recognised and addressed. The aim of this investigation is therefore to gather a range of data on these patients looking at how they describe their pain, clinical findings and how they activate the muscles around their knee with the aim to classify them to sub-populations to try to direct their treatment better.
All patients presenting to an outpatient orthopaedic clinic and diagnosed with PFP by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon will be eligible for enrollment to the study. If patients agree to take part they will be consented and asked to complete two questionnaires. They will then have some sensors attached to muscles around their hip and knee (these will be painless and just used to record muscle activity). Patients will be asked to perform a series of four movements. This testing protocol will last approximately seventy five minutes, and be repeated at three time points: before they have any intervention, then 4-6 weeks and 3-6 months following the initial appointment. Participation in the study will not have any impact on the intervention / treatments patients are given. Patients will simply have data recorded at these time points.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0425
Date of REC Opinion
7 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion