Muscle Strength Loss and Its Effect on Knee Cap Motion in Volunteers With Anterior Knee Pain

Launched by NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH CLINICAL CENTER (CC) · May 23, 2013

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is looking at how muscle strength around the knee affects the movement of the knee cap in people who have anterior knee pain, specifically a condition called Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. The researchers want to understand if changes in these muscles can lead to knee pain that isn't caused by a specific injury or disease. The study will involve healthy volunteers and those with knee pain, aged between 18 and 55.

Participants will undergo two MRI scans of their knee—one while the knee is moving naturally and another after a local anesthetic is injected into a thigh muscle, which temporarily weakens that muscle. This will help researchers see how the knee cap moves under different conditions. To be eligible, participants should not have any serious knee injuries, certain medical conditions, or allergies to local anesthetics. This study is currently recruiting volunteers, and it's a great opportunity for those who meet the criteria to contribute to our understanding of knee pain.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• * INCLUSION CRITERIA:
• • 1. Male and female volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55
• EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
• • All Volunteers
• • 1. Any relevant medical problems, including 933 those preventing ambulation
• • 2. Any serious injury to the joint being studied, previous surgery on the joint being studiedor extreme pain at the joint being studied or other condition that may explain the presence of PF_pain (e.g., meniscal tear, arthritis)
• • 3. Allergy/hypersensitivity to any local anesthetic agent (e.g., Novocain, lidocaine, bupivacaine, ropivacaine)
• • 4. Liver disease
• • 5. Open angle glaucoma
• • 6. Cardiac arrhythmias, congenital heart disease
• • 7. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency
• • 8. Any female who is pregnant
• A volunteer will be excluded if they have a contraindication to MR imaging. Examples are:
• • 1. Metal within their body, which might be expected to concentrate radiofrequency fields or cause tissue damage from twisting in a magnetic field (e.g., aneurysm clip, implanted neural stimulator, implanted cardiac pacemaker or autodefibrillator, cochlear implant, other foreign body (e.g. metal shavings, insulin pump).
• • 2. A condition, which would preclude them from participating in an MR imaging study (e.g., paralyzed hemidiaphragm, morbid obesity, severe claustrophobia)
• • 3. A condition that presents an unnecessary risk to them or their unborn child (e.g., 953 pregnancy, previous surgery of uncertain type, symptoms of pheochromocytoma or insulinoma)
• Subjects with Chronic Idiopathic Patellofemoral Pai:
• • 1. Lack of PF_pain (either no active pain or current pain of \< 6 months duration)
• Control Volunteers:
• • 1. Any clinical signs of a knee impairment in the joint being studied, including abnormal range of motion, muscle weakness, malalignment, and ligament damage.
• • 2. The presence of PF_pain (either active or past)