Effects of patellar taping on knee pain, functional disability, and patellar alignments in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome: A randomized clinical trial.

QUESTION: What are the effects of patellar taping on pain, functional disability and patellar alignments in Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS)? DESIGN: Double-blind randomized clinical trial. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty PFPS Patients were randomly divided into two groups, intervention and control. INTERVENTION: Patients in control group received only the routine physiotherapy. In addition to routine physiotherapy, patellar taping was used in the intervention group. Each patient was treated for 12 sessions over a period of 4 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES: The KOOS and VAS questionnaires were used to assess the quality of life (QOL) and pain intensity, respectively. Three components of patellar alignment including Patellofemoral Congruence Angle (PFCA), Lateral Patellofemoral Angle (LPFA) and Lateral Patellar Displacement (LPD) were evaluated using the skyline radiography method. RESULTS: The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the control and intervention groups for LPD (P = 0.586), PFCA (P = 0.704) and LPFA (P = 0.176) variables. No significant difference was found between the two groups in all items of the KOOS questionnaire. The knee pain intensity was significantly reduced in both the intervention (P < 0.001) and control (P = 0.001) groups at the end of the 4th week. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicated that patellar taping compared to routine physiotherapy treatments had no beneficial effects on pain reduction, QOL improvement and correction of patellar alignment in PSPS patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: IRCT201111012851N2.

Influence of core stability exercise on lumbar vertebral instability in patients presented with chronic low back pain: A randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Excessive lumbar vertebrae translation and rotation in sagittal plane has been attributed as an associated factor of lumbar segmental instability (LSI) and low back pain (LBP). Reduction of these abnormalities improves back pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of core stability exercise on the translation and rotation of lumbar vertebrae in sagittal plane in patients with nonspecific chronic LBP (NSCLBP). METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial, 30 patients with NSCLBP due to LSI were included. The participants were randomly divided into two groups of treatment and control. The treatment group received general exercises plus core stability exercise for 8 weeks whereas; the control group received only general exercises. The magnitude of translation (mm) and rotation (deg) of lumbar vertebrae in the sagittal plane was determined by radiography in flexion and extension at baseline and after intervention. The primary outcome measures were to determine the mean changes from baseline in translation and rotation of the lumbar vertebrae in the sagittal plane after 8 weeks of intervention in each group. The secondary outcome was to compare the two groups in regard to translation and rotation of the lumbar vertebrae at the end of the study period. Data were analyzed using paired t-test and independent t-test. RESULTS: Thirty patients aged 18-40 years old with clinical diagnosis of NSCLBP entered the study. Compared with baseline values, mean value of translation and rotation of the lumbar vertebra reduced significantly in both groups (P<0.05), except L3 translation in the control group. At the endpoint, mean translation value of L4 (P=0.04) and L5 (P=0.001) and rotation of the L5 (P=0.01) in the treatment group was significantly lower than the control group. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that in patients presented with NSCLBP due to lumbar segmental instability, core stability exercises plus general exercises are more efficient than general exercises alone in the improvement of excessive lumbar vertebrae translation and rotation.