Abstract

BACKGROUND: PFPS is one of the most frequently occurring overuse injuries affecting the lower limbs. A variety of functional and self-reported outcome measures have been used to assess clinical outcomes of patients with PFPS, however, only the Anterior Knee Pain Scale (AKPS) has been designed for PFPS patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We followed international recommendations to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the AKPS. The Arabic AKPS and the Arabic RAND 36-item Health Survey were administered to 40 patients who were diagnosed with PFPS. Participants were assessed at baseline and after 2 to 3 days assessed with the Arabic AKPS only. The measurements tested were reliability, validity, and feasibility.

RESULTS: The Arabic AKPS showed high reliability for both temporal stability, internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.81 for the first assessment and 0.75 for the second), excellent test-retest reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficients ICC=0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93, 0.98) and good agreement (standard error of measurement SEM=1.8%). The Arabic AKPS was significantly correlated with physical components of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey (Spearman’s rho=0.69: p<0.001). No ceiling or floor effects were observed.

CONCLUSIONS: The Arabic AKPS is a valid and reliable tool and is comparable to the original English version and other translated versions.

Keywords: RAND 36-Item Health Survey, outcome measures, patellofemoral pain syndrome, Arabic Version, anterior knee pain, Scoring of Patellofemoral Disorders