Comparative Effects of Patellar Taping and Patella Stabilizer Neoprene Knee Sleeve on Knee Joint Position Sense in Active Men with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is the most common overuse syndrome in athletes. It seems that individuals with PFPS have some impairments in knee joint proprioception. Patellar taping and neoprene knee sleeve are two common nonoperative methods for the treatment of this syndrome. However, the effectiveness of these interventions on proprioception is doubtful. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of patellar taping and patella stabilizer neoprene knee sleeve on position sense in active men with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

A total of 18 active men with PFPS (age 23.55±0.41 years) were examined for their knee position sense using an electro goniometer. Absolute error of active angular reconstruction was calculated for 30°, 45°, and 60°. The data was analyzed running ANOVA repeated measure and bonferoni post hoc tests (α=0.05).

The results showed that in 30° knee flexion in both of neoprene knee sleeve and patellar taping cause significant improvement in position sense; however, in 45° and 60° flexions, only the neoprene knee sleeve cause significant improvement in knee position sense (p < 0.05).

According to the research findings, it can be concluded that patellar taping can improve the position sense in early degrees of knee flexion, but neoprene knee sleeve with patella stabilizer can improve the position sense in early and middle degrees of knee flexion in active men with patellofemoral pain syndrome.