– Mike Reinold, Physio has a great blog detailing suggested treatment methodologies, the current information on Patellofemoral issues is really quite good.
– Another resource, of the local variety is The Australian Pilates Academy, they cover patellofemoral information too. A little more general than Mike, but a good place to start.
– ‘Management of Patellofemoral Pain, Targeting Hip, Pelvis, and Trunk Muscle Function: 2 Case Reports. This paper dated 2003, offers insight into treatment of this problem.
– ‘Anatomy and Biomechanics of the Hip Relevant to Arthroplasty‘ article at aboutjoints.com gives us some techhy insights into what’s going on with single leg stance. Read on..
“In a single leg stance, the effective center of gravity moves distally and away from the supporting leg since the nonsupporting leg is now calculated as part of the body mass acting upon the weight-bearing hip. Since the pillar of support is eccentric to the line of action of the center of gravity, body weight will exert a turning motion around the center of the femoral head. This turning motion must be offset by the combined abductor forces inserted into the lateral femur. In the erect position, this muscle group includes the upper fibers of the gluteus maximus, the tensor fascia lata, the gluteus medius and minimus, and the pyriformis and obturator internus.”
“The effect of this combined loading of body weight and the abductor muscle response required for equilibrium results in the loading of the femoral head to approximately 4 times body weight during the single leg stance phase of gait. This means that in normal walking the hip is subjected to wide swings of compressive loading from one-third of body weight in the double support phase of gait to 4 times body weight during the single leg support phase. “
