The Evaluation of a Novel Treatment Algorithm for Patients With Patellofemoral Syndrome

Patients who are diagnosed with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFS) and present to our clinic will be offered the opportunity to participate in the study. If they consent to be in this study they will randomized into 2 treatment groups. The experimental treatment group will be treated according to the novel PFS treatment algorithm. The control group will receive treatment that would be considered standard physical therapy care. To apply standard physical therapy care in a standardized manner the investigators are using a multimodal treatment approach that has been previously shown by Lowry to be beneficial in the treatment of PFS. Both groups of subjects will be seen 2 times per week for a maximum of 12 visits. Patients can be discharged early if they no longer report pain or impaired function on the Anterior Knee Pain scale. The purpose of this study is to see if patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome treated with the experimental Patellofemoral treatment algorithm experience significant improvements in function, pain and the number of treatment sessions compared with a previously researched multimodal approach to the treatment of patellofemoral pain. The secondary objective of this study is to examine results to determine if a full randomized controlled clinical trial of the PFS algorithm is justified. The investigators hypothesize that utilization of the Patellofemoral syndrome treatment algorithm with evaluation and treatment of patients diagnosed with PFS will lead to significant improvements in function, pain and the number of treatment sessions when compared to previously researched treatment of PFS.