Difference in knee joint position sense in athletes with and without patellofemoral pain syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate knee joint position sense (JPS) in athletes with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) and compare it with healthy participants under non-weight bearing (sitting) and weight bearing (standing) conditions.


METHODS
Twenty patients and 20 healthy athletes participated in this study. JPS was evaluated by active replication of knee angles with visual cues eliminated. Two target angles in sitting and one in standing were tested. Each test and replication was repeated three times. By subtracting the test angle from the replicated angle, the absolute error was calculated as a dependent variable.


RESULTS
No significant difference in knee JPS was found between groups either in the sitting or in the standing tests.


CONCLUSIONS
It seems that PFPS does not affect the knee JPS in athletes. The lack of deficiency in patients could possibly be attributed to their severity of knee pathology, pain intensity and their physical activity level.


METHODS
Case-control study, Level III.
Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services (TUMS), Pich-Shemiran, 1148965141, Tehran, Iran. naserins@sina.tums.ac.ir
Nasrin
N
Naseri
Fereshteh
F
Pourkazemi
D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D046788:Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010781:Photography; D011187:Posture; D011434:Proprioception; D016474:Weight-Bearing