Clinical biomechanics
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Clinical biomechanics · May 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialEffect of exercise therapy on neuromuscular activity and knee strength in female adolescents with patellofemoral pain-An ancillary analysis of a cluster randomized trial.
Female adolescents with patellofemoral pain are characterized by altered neuromuscular knee control and reduced maximal quadriceps torque. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether exercise therapy and patient education are associated with larger improvements in neuromuscular knee control and maximal quadriceps torque compared with patient education alone. ⋯ Female adolescents randomized to patient education and exercise therapy had a significantly larger increase in maximal quadriceps torque and greater improvement in neuromuscular knee control during stair descent than those receiving patient education alone. This suggest that exercise therapy has an effect not only on self-reported outcome measures but also on objective measures of thigh muscle function in female adolescents with patellofemoral pain.