Proposition, validation and application of a three-dimensional kinematic analysis method of the patellofemoral joint in female athletes with and without patellofemoral pain syndrome during sporting gesture of jump.

Abstract

The patellofemoral syndrome (PFS) is a very common condition in athletes. It can cause pain in the anterior knee in activities such as jumping, running and cycling. Among described biomechanical etiological factors there are imbalance of muscle forces acting on the patella, change in the movement of the patella, misalignment of the lower limbs and hip instability. Among articles in the literature that discuss the movement of the patella on the femur, none had an adequate method for the analysis of the kinematics of the patellofemoral joint (PFJ) in dynamic situation. Therefore, this study aims to propose and validate a method that makes up this demand and then verify if it is capable of performing this evaluation in two distinct groups, women athletes with and without PFS during the vertical jump. For it, a three-dimensional model of the patella will be developed using reflective markers. After validation with magnetic resonance imaging, this model will be applied in 30 jumpers, high-performance athletes, 15 in the group with PFS and 15 in the control group, whose jumps will be recorded by six industrial digital cameras and those images will be processed by DVideo software. The kinematic variables of the PFJ will be derived from routines performed in Matlab®. A descriptive analysis of demographic variables and regression analysis of data regarding the reliability, reproducibility and sensitivity of the model will be performed. In order to obtain a comparison between the groups, a correlation analysis will be performed to the dependent variables.