The effect of strengthening program of quadriceps and hip external rotation of the Q angle, balance and pain in female athletes with Patella-femoral pain syndrome

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of an 8-week program of strengthening the quadriceps and hip external rotation on the Q angle of the hip, balance and pain in active females with Patella-pain syndrome PFPS).

For this purpose, 27 female athletes with PFPS participated in this study and were divided into two groups: control (n=15) and experimental group (n=12). In this study, a Goniometer was used to evaluate the angle Q and to evaluate the dynamic and static balance, a foot-scan and Y-balance function test were used. Pain was evaluated by VAS questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the collected data.  To analyze the differences between the two groups, covariance analysis and t-test were used at a significance level of 0.05.

The results of this study showed the effect of 8 weeks of strengthening of the quadriceps and hip external rotation on pain variables (P≤0.001), Q angles (P ≤ 0.001), static (P≤0.001) and dynamic (P≤0.001). After 8 weeks, the training group performed better than the control group.

In general, it seems that the strengthening of the quadriceps and hip external rotation muscles results in an improvement in the alignment of the lower limbs and the Q angle.  Pain in the area is decreased by reducing contact between the patella and the knee and a knee pain reduction is produced by a strengthening of the hip muscles to improve the performance and balance of athletes with Patella-Femoral-pain syndrome.