Anterior Knee Pain (Patellofemoral Pain, Patella Tendinopathy or Osgood Schlatter’s Disease) is characterised as pain at the front of the knee from insidious origin that gradually builds up over time. At Burleigh and Broadbeach Physio Centres it is the one of the most common knee complaints we see.
- Patellofemoral Pain is more specifically dysfunction and overload of the joint between the patella and the femur, which is very often associated with a sharp increase in activity eg. Running.
- Patella Tendinopathy is a bit more specific with is pain distribution, with pain being just below the knee cap and aggravated most commonly by jumping sports.
- Osgood Schlatter’s Disease on the other hand has a more targeted demographic being teenagers that participate in a lot of sport and have just had a growth spurt. This bone growth around the knee region becomes too much for the associated soft tissues, which creates added pressure on the tibial plateau which is located at the front of the knee just below the knee cap.
Currently the best available evidence supports the use of manual therapy (joint mobilisation, massage, dry needling), taping, stretching and orthotics for some short term pain relief and gluteal, hamstring and quadriceps strengthening for longer term benefits.
So that doesn’t mean pushing through intense pain to complete your squats to fix your knee pain! There is a structured progressive approach that will be more successful in progressing you from crippling knee pain back to the activities that you love to do!
Here is the latest consensus statement in regards to anterior knee pain that was conducted last year on the Gold Coast.
