Abstract

The term "anterior knee pain" is far from being an explicit diagnosis. In fact, it expresses the still existing relative ignorance of the pathology and causes of a condition frequently encountered in clinical practice. The term is used to indicate the presence of pain in the anterior aspect of the knee, which may originate from the femoro-patellar friction bearing just as it may from the zone of the transition between tendon and bone within the patella, up to the tuberosity of the tibia. This conglomeration of possibilities contains more questions than answers at the present time. A correlation between symptoms (pain) and objective (morphological) findings is not found in the majority of cases. Similarly, patients who complain of knee pain often fail to demonstrate objective causes while, on the other hand, significant changes in cartilage remain devoid of symptoms. This is consistent with the observation that damage to cartilage that does not extend up to bone usually causes no pain. On the other hand, changes in muscle physiology and pathology probably play a substantially important role which, however, is difficult to identify. In the present study the muscular aspect of anterior knee pain will be addressed. Differences in the isokinetic strength of the anterior and posterior thigh muscles of active and former ski racers before and after a uniform therapy program were documented. Einleitung