Hip Muscle Activation, Kinematics, Pain and Functun in Female Runners with Patellofemoral Pain Before and After a Focused Technique Training Program

Patellofemoral Pain is one ofthe most common causes of knee pain seen in athletes. Unfortunately, in many cases it may become chronic and cause the athlete to stop playing sports. Recently, hip mechanics have been thought to be related to the development of PFP. However, treatment interventions to directly address these faulty mechanics have yet to be developed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine if a program focused on muscle awareness exercises and verbal feedback during running can increase muscle activation levels of the gluteus medius and maximus muscles, improve hip adduction, internal rotation and contralateral pelvic drop, and reduce pain during running in female runners with patellofemoral pain. We hypothesize that there will be a reduction in hip adduction, hip internal rotation, and contra-lateral pelvic drop, a decrease in pain, and lastly that gluteus medius and maximus muscles will activate earlier. We will use a repeated -measures ANOV A to analyze the results. We expect that there will be a reduction in the measured variables and that this change will persist at a one month follow-up. The successful development of this intervention will decrease the chronicity of this syndrome allowing athletes to continue participation in sports.