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,” Devan et al, 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:
- Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.