This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Yip, S. L. Articles by Ng, G. Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yip, S. L. Articles by Ng, G. Y. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Joint Disorders Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Biofeedback supplementation to physiotherapy exercise programme for rehabilitation of patellofemoral pain syndrome: a randomized controlled pilot study

Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Department of Physiotherapy, Yan Chai Hospital

Gabriel Yf Ng

Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Objectives: To examine the efficacy of electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback supplementation to exercise rehabilitation for people with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

Design: Double-blinded randomized clinical controlled pilot trial.

Setting: Clinical setting with home programme.

Participants: Twenty-six subjects diagnosed with patellofemoral pain.

Intervention: Subjects were randomly assigned into EMG biofeedback+exercise group or exercise-only group. All subjects participated in an eight-week home exercise programme, while the biofeedback group also received EMG visual feedback of their quadriceps muscle activities during the exercises.

Main outcome measures: Isokinetic knee extension strength, patellar alignments and perceived pain severity were assessed in weeks 0, 4 and 8 for all subjects. The data within and between groups were compared by repeated measures ANOVA with a=0.05.

Results: Both groups improved in isokinetic peak torque (P=0.005), work output (P=0.037) and patellar alignments (P=0.001-0.014). Besides, there was a trend of decrease in pain (P=0.088). The biofeedback group improved faster than the exercise group in lateral patellar rotation and peak torque per body weight, although no statistically significant difference was shown.

Conclusion: Biofeedback supplement to the exercise programme might hasten the improvement for subjects with patellofemoral pain in the first few weeks of a physiotherapy exercise programme, but this needs further study before being used.

Clinical Rehabilitation, Vol. 20, No. 12, 1050-1057 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0269215506071259


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. H. Nakagawa, T. B. Muniz, R. d. M. Baldon, C. Dias Maciel, R. B. de Menezes Reiff, and F. V. Serrao The effect of additional strengthening of hip abductor and lateral rotator muscles in patellofemoral pain syndrome: a randomized controlled pilot study Clinical Rehabilitation, December 1, 2008; 22(12): 1051 - 1060. [Abstract] [PDF]