Descending stairs: Good or bad task to discriminate women with patellofemoral pain?

The Effects of 12-Weeks of Sensorimotor Exercise on Pain, Strength, Pelvic Drop, and Dynamic Knee Valgus in Males With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

“…Therefore, pelvic stability and the proper activation of the pelvis stabilizing muscles are necessary to control the torques applied to the segments and to maximize the correct movement pattern of the lower limbs [5]. According to previous studies, one of the most frequent causes of the mechanism of occurrence of DNV and PD is disturbances in the pattern of the activity of hip abductor muscles, especially GM muscle, and weak neuromuscular control [7,36,37].…”

“…Accordingly, the center of mass of the body moves towards the supporting limb [31]. As a result, the need to activate the hip muscles is reduced, which in turn leads to enhanced abduction torque and DNV [37]. Therefore, rehabilitation interventions should aim to facilitate the activation of the GM muscle to reduce PD; it ultimately leads to a correct movement pattern and reduced abnormal repetitive stresses exerted on the knee joint due to pelvis compensatory movements.…”

“…Therefore, rehabilitation interventions should aim to facilitate the activation of the GM muscle to reduce PD; it ultimately leads to a correct movement pattern and reduced abnormal repetitive stresses exerted on the knee joint due to pelvis compensatory movements. Eventually, this process leads to the treatment and prevention of PFPS [37]. Accordingly, traditional therapeutic interventions in PFPS patients are mainly strengthening exercises [38,39]; however, Palmer et al [40] and Ferber et al [41] found that strengthening exercises (despite increasing the production of force in the hip abductor muscles) presented no significant effect on the movement pattern and DNV.…”

Step down tests are the tasks that most differentiate the kinematics of women with patellofemoral pain compared to asymptomatic controls

“…The findings in the literature regarding the kinematic alterations of patients with PFP during ascending and descending stairs are inconsistent [33,34]. Novello et al [18] pointed out that stairs, more specifically the descent, may not be the best task to highlight the kinematic differences that women with PFP possibly present and should be used with caution in the assessment and clinical decision making for the treatment of patients with PFP .…”

“…The task of ascending and descending stairs was performed on three steps, 20 cm high and 30 cm deep each without handrails [18]. During ascent the volunteer took two steps before making the initial contact with the first step.…”