Hot off the press research paper!
Read the most recent publication from the Banff Sport Medicine Foundation’s research group.
Hiemstra, L. A., & Kerslake, S. (2019). Age at Time of Surgery but Not Sex Is Related to Outcomes After Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction. The American Journal of Sports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546519841371
Article synopsis
Patellofemoral instability is a term used to describe a range of injuries that occur when the patella, which is the kneecap, dislocates from its original position. It’s a common knee injury particularly in children and adolescents, whom also have an increased risk of re-dislocating their kneecap after the initial injury, a condition referred to as ‘recurring instability’.
Gender has been proposed to have an influence on patellofemoral instability and potentially recurring instability as well. A medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction is an accepted surgical procedure that aims to stabilize the patella after injury, particularly in children and adolescents that are at high risk of recurring instability.
This first of its kind study aimed to investigate whether age at the time of surgery or gender influenced patient-reported quality of life and clinical outcome after MPFL reconstruction for recurrent lateral patellofemoral instability.
Overall this study found that “neither age at first dislocation nor sex influences quality of life outcomes after MPFL reconstruction”.
Age at the time of surgery did, however, correlate with outcome. Patients scored lower on a patient-reported disease-specific quality of life and clinical outcome score for each 10-year increase in age at time of surgery. “This finding suggests that earlier stabilization of patients presenting with symptomatic recurrent patellofemoral instability may result in better outcomes”.
