27 and 32 Despite the improvements obtained in both groups, the decreases in pain and improvements in health status were greater in patients who received the posterolateral hip exercises than in patients who received the quadriceps exercises. The superior improvements obtained in the posterolateral hip exercise group were still present at 6-month follow-up. Consistent with previous studies, we found that hip muscle strengthening resulted in decreased pain25 and 31 and improved health status25 in persons with PFP. In the current study, http://www.selleckchem.com/products/GDC-0941.html pain decreased by 70% in our patients after 8 weeks of hip strengthening, which was similar to the 82%

decrease in pain reported by Khayambashi25 and the 88% decrease reported by Earl and Hoch31 after their respective 8-week hip strengthening programs in persons with PFP. Additionally, health status in our hip strengthening group improved by 87%, which was similar to the 80% improvement reported by Khayambashi.25 Also consistent with previous studies, we AZD8055 clinical trial found that a quadriceps strengthening program resulted in decreased pain12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 and improved health status13, 14, 15 and 16 in persons with PFP. Pain decreased by 53% in our quadriceps

strengthening group, which was similar to the 59% decrease in pain reported by Chiu et al12 after their 8-week quadriceps strengthening program in persons with PFP. Our finding of a 59% reduction in pain in the quadriceps strengthening group was superior to that reported by Fukuda et al,15 who reported smaller reductions in pain (22%–31%) aminophylline with 8 weeks of quadriceps strengthening. The lower reduction in pain reported by Fukuda15 may have been the result of lower initial mean VAS scores compared with the current study (4.9 vs 6.9). Our finding of decreased pain and improved health status in the posterolateral hip exercise group compared with the quadriceps exercise group is consistent with the results of previous studies that evaluated both hip and quadriceps strengthening protocols.15, 16 and 26 For example, Nakagawa et al26 demonstrated that the addition of hip extensor

and hip abductor exercises to a knee strengthening protocol resulted in decreased pain compared with when quadriceps exercises were performed in isolation. Similarly, Fukuda et al15 and 16 reported decreased pain and improved function at 4 weeks and 1 year follow-up in persons receiving hip and knee strengthening compared with quadriceps strengthening alone. Furthermore, our findings are consistent with the 4-week follow-up outcome of Dolak,24 who found decreased pain with hip strengthening when compared with quadriceps strengthening. Based on the findings of the present study and other recent investigations,15, 16, 24, 25, 26, 31, 33, 34 and 35 posterolateral hip strengthening appears to be a viable treatment approach for persons with PFP.