Clinical Assessment of Malalignment: Does It Correlate With the Presence of Patellofemoral Pain?

摘要

Although malalignment of the patellofemoral joint is widely discussed as a cause of pain, little scientific evidence exists to support this proposition. The current data regarding this important issue is reviewed. Although not much proof exists that malalignment and pain are definitely related, clinical practice empirically shows that treatment can be successful after realignment in some scenarios. This may be because the “measurements” of malalignment that have been studied do not reflect the complex interplay of dynamic and static mechanisms that control the forces around the anterior knee during activity. In the author's opinion, imbalances caused by deficits in ligament stability, muscular power, muscular flexibility, or articular compliance affect clinical symptoms. Such factors are incompletely measured by current methods of measuring “malalignment.”