The Effect of 8-week Exercise program on Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to verify the efficacy of a selected 8-week exercise for the treatment of patellofemoral syndrome (PFPS). Participants of this study were 60 students aged 17 to 19 years with a history of at least 2 months of patellofemoral pain who were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. Subjects in experimental group underwent a selected 8-week program which consisted of three weekly sessions and involved stretching and strengthening exercises. The pain intensity and the functionality of the subjects were respectively avaluated by the NRS and the Kujala scales. All data were statistically analyzed using SPSS13. The intergroup analysis showed that before the beginning of the program, there was no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of experimental and control groups with regard to age, height, weight, BMI and duration of pain and also on the basis of pain NRS (P > 0.05) and Kujala scale (P > 0.05). The intergroup comparison indicated a statistically significant difference after termination of the eight-week treatment program (P < 0.05 for pain and p < 0.05 for Kujala Scale). The present study results showed that a selected 8-week exercise program is effective in alleviation of pain or in improvement of function in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome.