Exercise on a vibration platform may provide short-term patellofemoral pain relief
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A 4-week training protocol of hip, knee and core exercises on a full body, vibration platform may improve function and relieve pain in the short term for patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome, according to published results.
In their randomized-controlled clinical trial, researchers from Miguel Hernandez University in Alicante, Spain, randomly distributed 50 patients with patellofemoral pain (PFP) syndrome into either an exercise with whole body vibration group or a control group. Outcome measures included patients’ pain, knee function, range of motion and lower limb function.
“The experimental group performed 12 supervised sessions of hip, knee and core strengthening exercises on a vibration platform [three] times per week during 4 weeks,” the researchers wrote in the study. “The control group followed the same protocol but without vibration stimuli,” they added.
According to the study, the vibration platform output a vertical vibration frequency of 40 Hz with an amplitude from 2 mm to 4 mm.
After the 4-week study period, researchers found the exercise with vibration group reported improved PFP perception, knee function and lower limb functional compared to the control group.
The researchers concluded that the successful results may be attributed to decentralizing the focus of attention from the patellofemoral joint and improving the overall strength and function of the full lower limb and core.
“Previous investigations have shown that adding hip muscle strengthening exercises (hip abductors, external rotators and abdominal core muscles) produces a faster improvement in anterior knee pain in comparison to a standard knee rehab program,” the researchers wrote. “The realization of a training protocol of hip, knee and core exercises on a vibratory platform produces positive effects on the pain level and functional capacity of patients with PFP and is more effective than exercise alone in improving pain and function in patients with PFP in the short term,” they added.
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John P. Fulkerson, MD
I like this innovative approach and it is very interesting to see favorable results. This is not surprising given that we all advocate core strengthening, particularly hip external rotators, in the treatment of patellofemoral pain and instability. I will speak with my physical therapists and see what they think as it makes a lot of sense.
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Yañez-Álvarez AR, et al. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2020;doi:10.1186/s12891-020-03599-2.
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