Unit:
Specialty "Exercise & Health"Library of the School of Health Sciences
Author:
Kalatzis Dimitrios
Supervisors info:
Κουλουβάρης Παναγιώτης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Τσολάκης Χαρίλαος, Καθηγητής, ΣΕΦΑΑ, ΕΚΠΑ
Κούλαλης Δημήτριος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Σύνδρομο επιγονατιδομηριαίου πόνου σε έφηβες αθλήτριες πετοσφαίρισης υψηλού επιπέδου. Συσχέτιση με σωματικά και φυσιολογικά χαρακτηριστικά
Translated title:
Correlation between physiological and somatometric characteristics and patellofemoral pain syndrome in adolescent elite female volleyball players
Summary:
INTRODUCTION
Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common musculoskeletal disorder affecting up to 23 % of general population. PFP is more common in females. Specifically, it’s incidence among adolescent females and young adult women has been reported to be 2-10 times more than in their male counterparts. Anterior knee pain, the main symptom of PFP may limit an athlete’s performance or even lead to sport cessation, highlighting the high impact that the syndrome has in the quality of life.
AIM
The aim of this study is to assess trunk muscle strength in elite female volleyball players with and without patellofemoral pain in order to examine the hypothesis of trunk muscle performance as a predisposing factor of PFP.
Material and Methods
For the purpose of this study, we examined 23 elite volleyball players. All participants were females, aged between 15 and 17 years old . These athletes were all members of the Hellenic Volleyball National Team. The evaluation for PFP was made after a thorough history and examination made by the same orthopaedic surgeon according to the patellofemoral pain consensus statement.
Participants were excluded from the study if they showed signs and symptoms of the following conditions, implying other than PFP knee pathology : (1) Patellar tendinopathy (2) History of previous surgery of the knee (3) Meniscal injury (4) Collateral ligament injury (5) Patellar instability (6) Referred pain from the spine. Examination was made by the same orthopaedic surgeon.
RESULTS
Our results do not demonstrate any statistically significant alteration of trunk muscle strength between the two groups (athletes with and without PFP).
CONCLUSION
To our knowledge, no study has investigated trunk muscle strength in elite volleyball female players with PFP using the BIODEX isokinetic dynamometry. Our initial hypothesis based on the literature was that participants with PFP would exhibit lower trunk muscle strength compared to the pain free counterparts. However, the results do not demonstrate any statistically significant alteration of trunk muscle strength between the two groups. (athletes with and without PFP). This conclusion comes in contradiction with former research as mentioned before. Thus ,given the limited number of studies conducted and the conflicting results to date, further research is needed.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Patellofemoral pain, Trunk muscle strength, Volleyball players ,Patellofemoral pain syndrome, Patellofemoral joint
Number of references:
142
