Proposing a Patellar Tendinopathy Screening tool following a systematic review.
Sanell Morgan, Frederik F Coetzee
PMID 30349877WHAT IT FOUND
Male sex, poor lower-limb flexibility and strength, and jumping-sport exposure were the key risk factors identified for patellar tendinopathy.
The proposed screening tool is untested, so use it to guide assessment, not as validated evidence.
Key findings
01The review identified eight intrinsic and five extrinsic risk factors for patellar tendinopathy.
02The main intrinsic risk factors were male sex, impaired lower-limb flexibility, and impaired muscle strength.
03The proposed screening tool combines risk-factor screening with the VISA-P questionnaire, the VAS pain scale, and a pain provocation test, but it has not been tested.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only six articles met the inclusion criteria, and none were randomised trials. The included articles had a mean methodological quality score of 69%, so the evidence base was not strong. The review excluded youth populations, so it may not apply to younger athletes. The authors did not combine the data in a meta-analysis because the included studies had different populations and results. The screening tool was proposed but not tested, so its usefulness is unknown.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the proposed patellar tendinopathy screening tool is clinically validated. The paper proposes it from the included studies and states its value will only be verified if properly tested.