Evidence Based Conservative Management of Patello-femoral Syndrome

Background: Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is defined as pain surrounding the patella when sitting with bent knees for prolonged periods of time or when performing activities like ascending or descending stairs, squatting or athletic activities. Patella dislocation is not included in PFPS. Purpose: This review analyzes the evidence based conservative management of PFPS. Methods: A Cochrane Library search related to PFPS was performed until 18 January 2014. The key words were: patellofemoral pain syndrome. Eight papers were found, of which three were reviewed because they were focused on the topic of the article. We also searched the PubMed using the following keywords: evidence based conservative management of patellofemoral pain syndrome. Twelve articles were found, of which seven were reviewed because they were focused on the topic of the article. Overall ten articles were analyzed. Results: Different treatments can be tried for PFPS, including pharmacotherapy, therapeutic ultrasound, exercise therapy, and taping and braces. Conclusions: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce pain in the short term, but pain does not improve after three months. Therapeutic ultrasound appears not to have a clinically important effect on pain relief for patients with PFPS. The evidence that exercise therapy is more effective in treating PFPS than no exercise is limited with respect to pain reduction, and conflicting with respect to functional improvement. No significant difference has been found between taping and non-taping. The role of knee braces is still controversial. More well-designed studies are needed.