Do iliotibial band tightness and patellofemoral pain go together?
Two articles on PainSci cite Hudson 2009: 1. The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome 2. The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
PainSci commentary on Hudson 2009: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.
Twelve subjects with patellofemoral pain were compared with twelve others with no pain. The researchers found a “highly significant difference” between them and concluded (too overconfidently, given how few people they studied) that “subjects presenting with PFPS do have a tighter ITB.” Showing a little more restraint, they refrained from assuming that a tighter ITB actually causes patellofemoral pain, and wrote that “future work should investigate this observation prospectively in order to determine whether a tight ITB is the cause or effect of PFPS.”
This is one of only two studies of IT band tightness that I know of. The other, Devan et al, did not find any connection between tightness and knee problems.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Tight lateral structures have been implicated in subjects presenting with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). It has been proposed that a tight iliotibial band (ITB) through its attachment of the lateral retinaculum into the patella could cause lateral patella tracking, patella tilt and compression. Twelve subjects presenting with PFPS were compared with 12 matched control subjects. Hip adduction was measured using the Ober test in each subject as an indirect measure of ITB length. The mean values for hip adduction in the control group were 21.4 (+/-4.9) and 20.3 (+/-3.8) degrees in the left and right legs, respectively, and in the PFPS group, 17.3 (+/-6.1) and 14.9 (+/-4.2) degrees in the non-painful leg and painful leg, respectively. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a highly significant difference between groups (F=4.485, p=0.008) and post-hoc analysis showed a significant difference between the painful leg in the PFPS group and the left and right legs in the control group, p=0.002 and 0.009, respectively. The results from this study show that subjects presenting with PFPS do have a tighter ITB. Future work should investigate this observation prospectively in order to determine whether a tight ITB is the cause or effect of PFPS.
related content
- “A Prospective Study of Overuse Knee Injuries Among Female Athletes With Muscle Imbalances and Structural Abnormalities,” MR Devan, LS Pescatello, P Faghri, and J Anderson, Journal of Athletic Training, 2004.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.
- Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães 2021 Pain.
- No effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation on inflammatory and cartilage degradation biomarkers in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Cornish 2018 Nutr Res.
- The CANBACK trial: a randomised, controlled clinical trial of oral cannabidiol for people presenting to the emergency department with acute low back pain. Bebee 2021 Med J Aust.
- Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart 2017 Ann Behav Med.