Clinical Presentation of Patellofemoral Disorders

Abstract

When evaluating a clinical setting of anterior knee pain, the patient’s history often elicits an underlying supraphysiologic loading event, or series of events that leads to the development of symptoms [13]. Pain commonly begins insidiously, and we must search for a history of overuse. Overuse may result from beginning a new activity or from ill-advised increases in the duration, frequency, or intensity of a patient’s usual work or recreation activities [36]. Report of certain activities of daily living associated with high patellofemoral loads, such as rising out of a chair, going up or down stairs, kneeling, squatting, or sitting for prolonged periods of time with the knee flexed have become symptomatic. Characteristics of the patient pain that should be specifically addressed include quality, radiation, and exacerbating and relieving factors. Anterior knee pain is frequently reported by patients to be achy, poorly localized, positional, and activity related. Patients commonly present with symptoms that are vague, chronic in duration, sometimes bilateral, and insidious in onset.