Brief summary, from the abstract
In women with patellofemoral pain, fear of movement (kinesiophobia) was linked to how much pain and disability they reported, while estimated patellofemoral joint loading during stair climbing showed no such link. This points to psychological factors mattering more than mechanical load for symptoms.
- Cross-sectional study of 57 women with patellofemoral pain; stair-ascent joint loading measured with 3D motion analysis and a musculoskeletal model.
- Kinesiophobia was moderately associated with pain (rho = 0.37) and disability (rho = -0.58).
- No patellofemoral joint loading variable was associated with pain or disability (P > .05); kinesiophobia explained 14% of pain variance and 33% of disability variance.
- Observational design shows association, not cause; findings apply to women only and rely on model-estimated joint loads.
Clinically assessing this area? See the knee special tests.