Relationship Between The Quadriceps Muscle Stiffness And Patellar Alignment For Healthy People

Patellofemoral pain is a common disease, and it often couples with patellar malalignment. Previously, imbalance of the different quadriceps muscle heads was believed to be a causative factor of patellar malignment. However, findings from electromyography studies on quadriceps activities and patellar alignment in the last two decades were inconsistent. In order to better understand the relationship between quadriceps muscle imbalance and patellar malalignment, shear wave elastography (SWE), which can measure the passive and active muscle stiffness, may shed some new lights to this area. This study aims to examine whether the quadriceps muscle stiffness can predict the patellar position. The healthy young adult will be recruited in this study. Active and passive quadriceps muscle stiffness will be measured with the SWE in different conditions and the result will be correlated with the patellar position measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Also, electromyography (EMG) activity will be measured during the active stiffness measurement so as to establish the level of agreement between the EMG and SWE data. Linear regression will be used to calculate the relationship between different factors. The total number of subjects needed will be 55 by setting an effect size of 0.15 with two predictors, 80% power, and α at 0.05 in the linear regression.

This project will be conducted at PolyU campus and an MRI clinic in Hong Kong. Hopefully, it could be started in July 2021 and will last for 1 year.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Patellofemoral Maltracking

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 59

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hung Hom, Hong Kong, 000000
    • Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 45 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Healthy subject without patellofemoral joint problem

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy and in the range between 18 and 45 years.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Knee pain in the last 3 months;
• Previous history of knee surgery;
• People with contraindications to having MRI scanning.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Case-Only
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patellofemoral Joint Alignment measured by MRI scanning	Patellar displacement, patellar Alta/Baja and patellar tilt angle	Within 1 hour
Muscle stiffness measured by ultragraph using shear wave elastography	Raw data of vastus lateralis, rectus femoris and vastus medialis obliquus shear modulus	Within 1 hour

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Muscle activity measured by electromyography	EMG data of vastus lateralis, rectus femoris and vastus medialis obliquus	Within 1 hour
Muscle strength	Maximum isometric knee extensor muscle strength at specific joint angle (30 degrees and 60 degrees knee flexion)	Within 0.5 hour

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 26, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 9, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): February 9, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 20, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 20, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): July 29, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 16, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 15, 2022
• Last Verified: July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: muscle stiffness; patellofemoral alignment
• Other Study ID Numbers: 20038261r

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No