HABD and HER strength values approached
normal strength values with the
exercise protocols utilized in this study.
Women in the hip group demonstrated
increased HABD strength at the 8-week
testing, while both groups demonstrated
increased HER strength at the same
testing point. KE strength showed no
improvements across the course of the
intervention. When both hip and quad
groups were combined, baseline values
for hip torque during HABD and HER
were 5.4 1.9 and 2.1 0.8, respectively.
These values are very similar to
previously reported strength in patients
with PFPS (4.6 and 2.2, respectively).5
Our postintervention strength values at
8 weeks for HABD and HER (6.4 1.4
and 2.5 0.8, respectively) were again
similar to values reported for a healthy
cohort (6.5 and 3.2, respectively).5 Because
we used a relatively unique means
of reporting torque that controlled for
individual variance due to height and
weight, we additionally converted our
strength measures for isometric HABD
and HER into a percentage of bodyweight
for further comparison to studies
that did not use these corrections (TABLE
4).26,38 At the conclusion of this intervention,
hip strength values for women in
this study were approaching those reported
for healthy women.
The lack of KE strength gains is interesting,
especially when contrasted with
the observed gains in HABD and HER
strength. One possible cause of the steady
knee extensor strength could be due to
pain preventing adequate muscular activation.
Patients with patellofemoral pain
have been shown to demonstrate decreased
quadriceps muscular activation.