NCT07210060

Knee Strengthening With Hip vs. Ankle Exercises in Women With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Comparison of Knee Strengthening Combined With Hip or Ankle Joint Exercises on Clinical Symptoms, Sports Performance and Soft Tissue Structure in Women With Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 45 (actual)
• Sponsor: Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 20 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Eight weeks of telehealth-based supervised exercise effectively reduced DKV and pain in women with anterior knee pain. Both intervention groups demonstrated comparable benefits.

Detailed description

This study compared the effects of knee strengthening combined with either hip or ankle joint exercises on dynamic knee valgus (DKV), visual analogue scale (VAS) scores during activity, tendon stiffness, muscle structure, ankle range of motion, and muscle strength in women with anterior knee pain. Forty-five female recreational athletes aged 20-40 with anterior knee pain were randomly assigned to three groups: hip + knee exercises (HK group, n = 15), ankle + knee exercises (AK group, n = 15), and stretching alone (control group, n = 15). The HK and AK groups received supervised telehealth-based exercise sessions (30 minutes/day, 3 times/week for 8 weeks), while the control group received only an educational pamphlet. Assessments were conducted at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks.

Conditions

• Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
• Anterior Knee Pain
• Exercise Therapy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	hip + knee joint exercise group	Hip: squat, glute bridge and gluteus medius exercise Knee: knee flexor and extensor, isometric squat hold
OTHER	ankle + knee joint exercise group	Knee: knee flexor and extensor, isometric squat hold Ankle: plantar flexor, dorsi flexor and lunge
OTHER	Stretching group	Education Handout on Lower Limb Stretching

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-07-01
• Primary completion: 2024-07-31
• Completion: 2024-07-31
• First posted: 2025-10-07
• Last updated: 2025-10-07

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Taiwan