About

About

Our Story

Why Was The Patellofemoral Foundation Created?

Anterior Knee Pain is very common in the general population, creating chronic disability, limitation from participation in sports, lost time from work, and generally diminished quality of life for many people of all ages. Clinicians noted that one third or more of all complaints at their sports medicine clinics were patellofemoral pain. Although these problems are common, many people with anterior knee pain never get relief. Too many never return to sports or work.

The Challenge

Despite these advances, many remain disabled and live with daily pain or discomfort. Criteria for proper treatment have been based largely on individual experience. Randomized control studies must be initiated in addition to broad-based research and education dedicated to patellofemoral disorders. There is a great need to refine the indications for anterior knee pain management and surgery, improve bracing and non-operative measures, standardize operative approaches, and develop an educational network that reaches well into the sports medicine and orthopaedic communities.

Progress

There has been some progress in the understanding of anterior knee pain. Anatomic and clinical studies have revealed sources of pain not previously recognized and opened the door to specific treatments of pain around the front of the knee. New radiologic techniques, particularly computerized tomography and MRI, have led to a greater understanding of the mechanical behavior of the patella.

Brochure

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Treatment

A Successful Patellofemoral Treatment
  • Listen to the patients. Let them guide you to the source of pain and disability
  • Establish core lower body stability, starting at the hips
  • Maximize nonoperative treatment first, but do not overlook the patient who needs help beyond what nonoperative treatment can achieve
  • If surgery becomes necessary, always aim to restore balance without adding abnormal load, particularly to articular lesions
  • Release only what is too tight, and tighten only what is too loose
  • Unload articular lesions, restore balance Beware of medial PF instability in patients who are more unstable after surgery
  • Early controlled motion after PF surgery

Accomplishments

Awards

  • 19 ISAKOS (International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery, and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine)/PFF traveling fellowships to date
  • ISAKOS/PFF PF Research Excellence Award given at each ISAKOS annual meeting
  • 5 AANA/PFF PF Cadaver Surgery courses to date
  • Established AANA PF Research Excellence Award (2014)
  • ISAKOS/PFF PF Task Force with goal to provide a standardized and improved format for evaluation of PF patients
  • Fiscal Sponsor of the International PF Study Group

Milestones

  • PFF PF Online Education (initially supported by a grant through the Yale Medical School Library)
  • PFF/Healio PF Blog Updates
  • Healio Patellofemoral Newswires (2020)
  • Patellofemoral education partnership with ISMF Courses (2020)
  • Recent initiatives (2020): Comprehensive Patellofemoral Online Education course, ISMF Course support Porto, Portugal, AANA Hands on PF Surgery course 2020, Healio PF Newswires

Achievements

PFF LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
GIVEN TO:

  • Henri Dejour, MD
  • David Dejour, MD
  • Christopher Powers, RPT
  • Jennifer McConnell, RPT
  • Alan Merchant, MD
  • Philippe Neyret, MD
  • Scott F. Dye, MD
  • Elizabeth Arendt, MD
  • Robert Teitge, MD
  • Vicente Sanchis-Alfonso, MD
  • John Fulkerson, MD