Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is one of the most common forms of knee pain in individuals under the age of 40. It accounts for nearly 30% of all injuries seen in sports medicine clinics and are attributed to individuals who participate in a heavy plyometric activity such as basketball and volleyball. At Empower U, we understand how important knee pain recovery is to current and future performance.
With basketball season coming to a close, this is the time to truly take your knee pain recovery seriously and ensure you are ready to close the season strong and pain-free. While it may be inevitable, we may experience increased knee soreness post-game towards the end of the season. The question becomes how can we most effectively reduce that pain and get us ready for the next game?
In a recent study by Ma et all (2020), they compared the effects of trigger point dry needling paired with stretching to stretching alone for those individuals suffering from exercise-induced PFPS. When utilizing the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain intensity and the Kujala questionnaire for measuring functional status. They concluded that the trigger point dry needling plus stretching group were significantly improved in both measurements at the 3-week treatment visit, 6-week treatment visit, and 3-month follow-up compared to scores before treatment. However, the stretch-only group only saw significant improvements at the 3-week and 6-week treatment visits. In addition to the subjective measurements taken, it was also found that the ratio of the myoelectric amplitude of the Vastus Medialis Oblique (VMO) and Vastus Lateralis (VL) was improved significantly within the trigger point dry needling group plus stretching. What this meant was the rate at which each of these two muscles fired upon being activated was increased as compared to pre-treatment interventions.
In short… Dry needling plus post-exercise stretching has been proven to reduce anterior knee pain while increasing quadriceps muscle function in individuals suffering from exercise-induced knee pain.
