Clinical trial NCT00662493: A Comparison of Two Exercise Programs on Knee Motor Control
Official title: The Effect of Specific Versus Generalised Quadriceps Exercise on Neural Control of the Vasti
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE2
Conditions: Knee Pain
Patellofemoral Pain
Keywords: knee pain
exercise
rehabilitation
Lead sponsor: University of Melbourne
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia
First posted: 2008-04-21
Enrollment: 60
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 16
Maximum age (years): 40
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Pain at the front of the knee is a common condition treated by physical therapists. Treatment may consist of generalised strengthening exercises directed at the quadriceps muscle or specific retraining aimed at restoring motor control at the knee. This study compared these two exercise programs in a group of people who were painfree at the time to evaluate their effect on motor control. It was hypothesised that only the motor retraining program would influence motor control at the knee.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* aged between 16-40 years, with the upper age limit to reduce the likelihood of osteoarthritic changes in the patellofemoral joint
* a self-reported history of anterior or retropatellar knee pain with insidious onset of symptoms and with at least one episode of pain in the past 12 months where pain was aggravated by at least two of the following: prolonged sitting, stairs, squat, running, kneeling and hopping/jumping
* currently asymptomatic for at least 8 weeks prior to assessment
* delay in the onset of VMO EMG relative to that of VL of greater than 10 ms during either the ascent or descent of a stair stepping task

Exclusion Criteria:

* current knee pain
* history of knee surgery or other knee injury in previous 12 months
* physiotherapy treatment for knee pain in the past 12 months
* history of patellar dislocation/subluxation
* clinical evidence of meniscal lesion, ligamentous instability, traction apophysitis around the patellofemoral complex, patellar tendon pathology, chondral damage, osteoarthritis and spinal referred pain
* current lower limb pathology affecting their ability to satisfactorily complete the testing or exercise protocol
* current use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory or corticosteroid drugs
* inability to communicate and comprehend written or verbal instructions in English

Primary outcomes:
measure: latency between the onset of VMO electromyographic activity relative to that of VL during stair ascent and stair descent measured using surface electrodes
timeFrame: 6 weeks with 8 week followup
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Concentric and eccentric quadriceps muscle strength as assessed by isokinetic dynamometry
timeFrame: 6 weeks with 8 week followup
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Melbourne
country: Australia
facility: University of Melbourne
state: Victoria
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Melbourne
name: Kim L Bennell, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: University of Melbourne
name: Kim Bennell
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: University of Melbourne
name: Kim Bennell, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Bennell K, Duncan M, Cowan S, McConnell J, Hodges P, Crossley K. Effects of vastus medialis oblique retraining versus general quadriceps strengthening on vasti onset. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010 May;42(5):856-64. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181c12771.