COMPARISON OF THE EFFECT OF TRANSCRANIAL STIMULATION OF PRIMARY MOTOR CORTEX (M1) AND RELAXATION TONE AND MINDFULNESS-BASED BREATHING (MBMR) ON GROUND REACTION FORCE OF LOWER LIMB DURING WALKING IN SUBJECTS WITH PATELLOFEMORAL PAIN

Patellofemoral pain syndrome is a term used to describe pain that originates in the patellofemoral joint or the soft tissues surrouning it. This study compared the effects of relaxation tones and mindfulness-based breathing on the magnitude of the ground reaction force experienced by patellar femoris patients while walking to those of transcranial stimulation of the primary motor cortex.

Thirty men with patellofemoral pain participated in this semi-experimental study. With the aid of a force plate device, ground reaction force variables were assessed before and after transcranial stimulation, relaxation, and mindfulness-based breathing. The data were statistically analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance with a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that the effect of the time factor was statistically significant on the peak internal-external force during heel contact (P=0.049), when the foot leaves the ground (P=0.001), the peak anterior-posterior force during heel separation from the ground (P=0.044), and the peak vertical ground reaction force during heel separation from the ground (P=0.011). The effect of the time factor was statistically significant on peak internal-external forces during heel contact (P=0.004), peak anterior-posterior forces when the foot leaves the ground (P=0.017), peak vertical forces during heel contact with the ground (P=0.009), and peak vertical forces during foot separation from the ground (P=0.047).

Based on the findings, it can be inferred that transcranial stimulation of the primary motor cortex, as well as body relaxation and mindfulness-based breathing awareness may be effective in reducing patellofemoral pain.