Reliability and Validity of Physical Tests and Musculoskeletal Ultrasound As an Add-on in Classifying Anterior Knee Pain

Musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSU) or sonography is a non-invasive diagnostic technique and can extend the clinical examination of Anterior Knee Pain by visualizing musculoskeletal pathology to detect invisible flaws, it is safe, cheap and easy to use in primary care and therefore ensuring substitution of care. The European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology (ESSR) has concluded that MSU can accurately classify APK pathologies. Protocol-based MSU can detect pathologic changes including cartilage swelling, fragmentation of the tibial tubercle ossification center, patellar tendon lesions, and reactive bursitis of the deep or superficial tibial patellar bursae and is increasingly used by physical therapists in the diagnostic process. It is hypothesized that the validity of the physical examination is insufficient to accurately classify different conditions in AKP in patients aged 7-50 years. Therefore the use of MSU as an add-on is essential. The purpose of this study is at first to assess the validity of the physical examination and second to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of protocol-based MSU and physical examination, in patients with AKP, in primary care physiotherapy. The study is a cross-sectional observational study with four measurements within 60 minutes, without any intervention, performed with a single-gate diagnostic design with the same eligibility criteria for all participants including one group for comparison and measurement. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology Statement was used as a guideline.

NCT Number	NCT06904352
Lead Sponsor	Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Conditions	Anterior Knee Pain Syndrome
Enrollment	80 participants
Start Date	2025-04-01
Primary Completion	2025-10-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2025-10-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-04-01