A Comparison of Two Exercise Programs on Knee Motor Control - Full Text View

Sponsors and Collaborators:	University of Melbourne National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia
Information provided by:	University of Melbourne
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00662493

Purpose

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.

Condition	Intervention	Phase
Knee Pain Patellofemoral Pain	Behavioral: Motor control retraining program Behavioral: Quadriceps strengthening program	Phase II

MedlinePlus related topics: Exercise and Physical Fitness

U.S. FDA Resources

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Treatment, Randomized, Single Blind (Outcomes Assessor), Active Control, Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study
Official Title:	The Effect of Specific Versus Generalised Quadriceps Exercise on Neural Control of the Vasti

Further study details as provided by University of Melbourne:

Primary Outcome Measures:

latency between the onset of VMO electromyographic activity relative to that of VL during stair ascent and stair descent measured using surface electrodes [ Time Frame: 6 weeks with 8 week followup ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:

Concentric and eccentric quadriceps muscle strength as assessed by isokinetic dynamometry [ Time Frame: 6 weeks with 8 week followup ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Enrollment:	60
Study Start Date:	March 2003
Study Completion Date:	December 2005
Primary Completion Date:	December 2005 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Arms	Assigned Interventions
1: Experimental Motor control retraining program	Behavioral: Motor control retraining program Specific retraining of VMO activation in a low-load situation,and progressed to integrate more functional positions. Use of dual channel biofeedback was incorporated Behavioral: Quadriceps strengthening program 4 exercises focused on quadriceps strengthening commencing at a resistance of 60% 1 repetition maximum. Each exercise was performed for 3 sets of 10 repetitions

Arms

Assigned Interventions

1: Experimental

Motor control retraining program

Behavioral: Motor control retraining program

Specific retraining of VMO activation in a low-load situation,and progressed to integrate more functional positions. Use of dual channel biofeedback was incorporated

Behavioral: Quadriceps strengthening program

4 exercises focused on quadriceps strengthening commencing at a resistance of 60% 1 repetition maximum. Each exercise was performed for 3 sets of 10 repetitions

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	16 Years to 40 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	Yes

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

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00662493

Locations

Australia, Victoria
University of Melbourne
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3010

Sponsors and Collaborators

University of Melbourne

National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia

Investigators

Principal Investigator:	Kim L Bennell, PhD	University of Melbourne
Principal Investigator:	Kim Bennell	University of Melbourne
Principal Investigator:	Kim Bennell, PhD	University of Melbourne

More Information

No publications provided

Responsible Party:	University of Melbourne ( Professor Kim Bennell )
Study ID Numbers:	020077
Study First Received:	April 15, 2008
Last Updated:	April 18, 2008
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00662493 History of Changes
Health Authority:	Australia: Human Research Ethics Committee

Keywords provided by University of Melbourne:

knee pain
exercise
rehabilitation

Study placed in the following topic categories:

Pain

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 07, 2009