AJSM February 2020 Podcast: Patellofemoral Pain in Adolescents: Understanding Patellofemoral Morphology and Its Relationship to Maltracking

*This podcast features Drs. Frances T. Sheehan and Camila Grant, and Cameron N. Fick from the NIH Clinical Center Rehabilitation Medicine. Developing bone is highly adaptable and, as such, is susceptible to pathological shape deformation. Thus, it is imperative to quantify if changes in patellofemoral morphology are associated with adolescent-onset patellofemoral pain, as a pathway to improve our understanding of this pain's etiology. In conclusion, this study provides direct evidence that patellofemoral morphology is altered and influences maltracking in adolescents with patellofemoral pain, highlighting the multifactorial etiology of this pain. Neither morphology nor kinematics (measured during active flexion-extension) correlated with pain. Both increases and decreases in these parameters likely lead to pain, negating a direct linear correlation.   Click here to read the article.