Exercises supervised by physiotherapists improve pain and function in patients with patellofemoral pain.

Question: Does supervised exercise therapy improve pain, function, and recovery more than usual care for patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome? Design: Randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation. Setting: General and sports medicine practices in The Netherlands. Patients: Patients aged 14 to 40 with patellofemoral pain for between 2 months and 2 years were recruited as they consulted a general practitioner or sports physician for the pain. Knee osteoarthritis, patellar tendinopathy, and OsgoodSchlatter disease were exclusion criteria. 131 patients were randomised into exercise therapy (n = 65) and control (n = 66) groups with stratification by age and recruiting physician. Interventions: The intervention group received a 6-week progressive exercise program that was individually tailored. This group was instructed to exercise 25 minutes daily for 3 months and was supervised by a physiotherapist for 9 sessions over 6 weeks. The control group was advised to rest Exercises supervised by physiotherapists improve pain and function in patients with patellofemoral pain