Segmental muscular stretching improves knee function and alignment in subjects with patellofemoral syndrome: Preliminary study

Abstract

Introduction: Patellofemoral syndrome (PFS) is a common painful knee disorder and for its treatment, quadriceps femoris strengthening exercises are normally used; however, few studies in the literature investigate the direct effects of stretching exercises. Objective: In order to fill this gap, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of segmental stretching exercises on the treatment of patients with PFS. Methods: Twelve PFS patients with right foot dominance and mean age of 20 years were evaluated. The following functional variables were assessed, before and after treatment: Q angle, pain intensity, knee functional injury level (Lysholm scale), joint position sense (JPS) at 40 and 50 degrees of knee flexion and total work and concentric torque of quadriceps femoris and hamstring muscles at 60 and 180 degrees/sec. After initial evaluation, bilateral segmental stretching exercises for hamstring, triceps surae and quadriceps femoris muscles were performed, with 30-second duration and 10 repetitions on each muscle. Data obtained before and after treatment were analyzed by t test for dependent samples (α < 0.05). Results: All variables showed significant difference after treatment (p < 0.05), except extensor muscular torque and total work at 60 degrees/ sec, extensor and flexor total work at 180 degrees/sec and JPS at 40 and 50 degrees of knee flexion. Conclusion: Based on these results, we can state that segmental stretching exercises treatment improves major PFS signals and symptoms of patients, such as alignment, pain and knee function.