Effect of change in patellofemoral joint contact area by the decrease in vastus medialis muscle activation on joint...

Patellofemoral pain syndrome is a common orthopedic trauma among runners. It is unclear whether patellofemoral joint stress (PFJS) is the highest (or lowest) when the knee joint flexion angle and extension moment are in combination under the condition that vastus medialis (VM) activation decreases. This study aimed to investigate the effects of changes in the PFJ contact area by decreasing the activation of the VM muscle on PFJS.

A PFJ sagittal model was used to quantify PFJ reaction force and PFJS. The PFJ model and mathematical modelling procedure were used to quantify PFJS based on previous studies. The simulation ranges were set to knee joint flexion angles of 10-45° and extension moments of 0-240 Nm. PFJS was calculated for the normal condition (NC) and decrease condition (DC) in VM activation.

When the knee joint angle and knee joint moment were at the maximum, the PFJS showed the maximum value under both conditions (NC; 14.9 N/cm2, DC; 16.4 N/cm2). PFJS was found to be higher in DC than that in NC for all simulation ranges.

Decreased VM activation may be involved in the mechanism of patellofemoral pain syndrome. In addition, the results of this study provide evidence that clinicians can enhance VM to relieve pain in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome.