DIAGNOSTIC ULTRASOUND ASSESSMENT OF FEMORAL CARTILAGE HEALTH IN INDIVIDUALS WITH PATELLOFEMORAL PAIN

Patients with patellofemoral pain (PFP) experience pain during or after physical activities. According to recent researches, they are at risk of developing patellofemoral osteoarthritis (PFOA). Isolated PFOA is also considered a marker for future development of tibiofemoral osteoarthritis (TFOA), which is recognized as knee osteoarthritis. Researchers found feedback motion retraining to be an effective mode of intervention to alter movement patterns. However, there is no research synthesizing the efficacy of feedback motion retraining for patients with PFP. Therefore, in Chapter 2, we assessed the efficacy of feedback motion retraining by summarizing relevant scientific evidence. Diagnostic ultrasound (US) is a cost-effective imaging tool to assess morphology of soft tissue, but it is rarely used for evaluating cartilage health in individuals with PFP. Therefore, our aims were to evaluate femoral cartilage health in patients with PFP using US. We identified significant correlations between patient-reported outcomes and echo intensity following loading conditions. We also identified statistically significant differences of femoral cartilage image quality between individuals with and without PFP which indicates increased risk of osteoarthritis in individuals with PFP.