Exercise therapy vs a control strategy (no treatment, placebo or waiting list controls): Functional ability
- Population
- patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome (symptoms > 3 weeks (1 study); symptoms > 1 month (3 studies); symptoms > 2 months (2 studies); symptoms > 3 months (2 studies; symptoms > 6 months (1 study). (Data from a study including participants with patella malalignment are not included here.)
- Intervention
- Exercise therapy
- Comparison
- a control strategy (no treatment, placebo or waiting list controls)
- Outcome
- Functional ability
It is very uncertain whether exercise therapy changes functional ability (short‐term) Scale (0 to 100; higher scores mean… compared with a control strategy (no treatment, placebo or waiting list controls) (very low certainty).
What each review found
Include earlier review versions| Finding | Effect | Studies | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|
Exercise therapy vs a control strategy (no treatment, placebo or waiting list controls) Functional ability (short‐term) Scale (0 to 100; higher scores mean better function) · patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome (symptoms > 3 weeks (1 study); symptoms > 1 month (3 studies); symptoms > 2… It is very uncertain whether exercise therapy changes functional ability (short‐term) Scale (0 to 100; higher scores mean… compared with a control strategy (no treatment, placebo or waiting list controls) (very low certainty). Exercise for treating patellofemoral pain syndrome (2015) · Cochrane Headline outcomes only | SMD 1.1 [0.58, 1.63] | 7 studies · 483 participants | Very low |
Exercise therapy vs a control strategy (no treatment, placebo or waiting list controls) Functional ability (long‐term) Scale (0 to 100; higher scores mean better function) · patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome (symptoms > 3 weeks (1 study); symptoms > 1 month (3 studies); symptoms > 2… It is very uncertain whether exercise therapy changes functional ability (long‐term) Scale (0 to 100; higher scores mean… compared with a control strategy (no treatment, placebo or waiting list controls) (very low certainty). Exercise for treating patellofemoral pain syndrome (2015) · Cochrane Headline outcomes only | SMD 1.62 [0.31, 2.94] | 3 studies · 274 participants | Very low |
Findings are shown side by side, never pooled across reviews.
The reviews
| Review | Searched up to | Included studies | AMSTAR 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exercise for treating patellofemoral pain syndrome 2015 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only | Not reported | Not extracted | Not assessed |
Related questions
The same intervention and outcome, asked in another population or against another comparator.
- Exercise therapy vs Placebo (sham/placebo device) · acute non‐specific LBP · 1 review
- Exercise therapy vs no treatment four to six weeks after lumbar disc surgery · patients four to six weeks after lumbar disc surgery · 1 review
How reviews are matched to this question
Reviews word the same question differently. Four decision models (TypeSafe's Jev, Liquid AI's d1-ultra, SubQ Snap and Baseten's Elephant) judged each wording of the population, intervention, comparator and outcome against the others; two wordings count as the same when at least three of them agree and none clearly disagrees, and findings count as this question only when all four elements match. Timing, setting and subgroup never split a question: they are shown on each finding.