• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • TeleConsult
  • About
  • Newsletter/Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Policies

Bone and Spine

Orthopedic health, conditions and treatment

  • General Ortho
  • Procedures
  • Spine
  • Upper Limb
  • Lower Limb
  • Pain
  • Trauma
  • Tumors

Anterior Knee Pain Scale- Use and Limitations

By Dr Arun Pal Singh

In this article
    • What is the Anterior Knee Pain Scale?
    • The Questionaire of Anterior Knee Pain Scale
    • Interpretation
    • Limitations
      • Related

The anterior knee pain scale is a patient-reported assessment of symptoms and functional limitations in patellofemoral disorders. It was first published in 1993 by Kujala et al.

The questions on the Kujala questionnaire add to total of100 points.

Anterior knee pain results in significant symptoms and activity limitations. The anterior knee pain scale is a self-reporting tool. The other scales frequently used for this pain are  Fulkerson scale and Lysholm Scale

The AKPS has good test-retest reliability. Individuals with anterior knee pain are frequently very active, but self-restrict activities that are pain provoking.

anterior knee pain scale
Anterior knee pain scale question example

What is the Anterior Knee Pain Scale?

The questionnaire documents patient response to six activities that are thought to be associated with anterior knee pain syndrome. These are

  • Walking
  • Running
  • Jumping
  • Climbing stairs
  • Squatting
  • Prolonged sitting with knees bent

It also notes down following as the patient describes them. That means the patient is asked about activity and not asked to demonstrate.

  • Limp
  • Inability to weight bear through the affected limb
  • Swelling
  • Abnormal patellar movement
  • Muscle atrophy
  • Limitation of knee flexion

The activities are gauged on various levels of difficulties preset in the questionnaire and different scores are assigned to each response.

The different categories of response get different scores. The categories of response and scrores assigned vary with each activity but are generally on a spectrum of ‘no difficulty – unable’ and ‘no pain – severe pain.

The Questionaire of Anterior Knee Pain Scale

  1. Limp
    • None- 5
    • Slight or periodical – 3
    • Constant – 2
  2. Support
    • Full support without pain -5
    • Painful – 3
    • Weight-bearing impossible- 0
  3. Walking
    • Unlimited – 5
    • More than 2 km – 3
    • 1-2km – 2
    • Unable to walk – 0
  4. Stairs
    • No difficulty – 10
    • Slight pain when descending – 8
    • Pain when descending and ascending – 5
    • Unable to walk on stairs – 0
  5. Squatting
    • No difficulty – 5
    • Related squatting painful – 4
    • Painful each time- 3
    • Possible with partial weight-bearing
    • Unable to squat – 0
  6. Running
    • No difficulty – 10
    • Pain on running more than 2 kms
    • Slight pain from the start – 6
    • Severe pain – 3
    • Unable to run -0
  7. Jumping
    • No difficulty – 10
    • A little bit of difficulty- 7
    • Moderate difficulty- 2
    • A lot of difficulty – 0
  8. Prolonged sitting with the knees flexed
    • No difficulty -10
    • pain after exercise – 8
    • Constant pain – 6
    • Pain forces to extend the knee temporarily- 4
    • Unable to sit for prolonged period with knees flexed
  9. Pain
    • None- 10
    • Slight and occasional – 8
    • Interferes with sleep – 6
    • Occasionally severe- 3
    • Constant and severe- 0
  10. Swelling.
    • None-10
    • SLight and occasional – 8
    • Interferes with sleep – 6
    • Occasionally severe – 3
    • Constant and severe – 0
  11. Abnormal painful kneecap (patellar) movements (subluxations)
    • None – 10
    • Occasional in sport activities- 6
    • Occasionally in daily activities – 4
    • At least one documented dislocation – 2
    • More than 2 dislocations – 0
  12. Atrophy of thigh muscles
    • None- 5
    • Slight- 3
    • Severe – 0
  13. Flexion deficiency
    • None – 5
    • Slight – 3
    • Severe-0

Interpretation

The maximum score is 100. The lower scores mean there is a greater pain or disability.

To get a rough idea, scores of 70 are considered a moderate disability.

The minimal detectable change for the anterior knee pain scale has been reported to range from 7-14 by various studies.

Limitations

The anterior knee pain scale is reported as easy to understand and takes a short time to complete.

One activity that is not included in this scale is kneeling. Kneeling is a different activity from squatting and a frequently reported pain trigger in these patients.

Sometimes, there is a discrepancy between the reported score and the patient’s functions. Thus, some patients reporting as high as 80 scores may still be not able to perform the reflected expectancy of function.

Moreover, the nature of the questions in the anterior knee pain syndrome may lead patients to focus on symptoms rather than on activity limitations.

But, the treatment or interventions focus on improving function and participation.

The patient may require help in answering the questions though it is a self-reporting tool.

Related

Spread the Knowledge
 
     

Filed Under: Knee

About Dr Arun Pal Singh

Arun Pal Singh is an orthopedic and trauma surgeon, founder and chief editor of this website. He works in Kanwar Bone and Spine Clinic, Dasuya, Hoshiarpur, Punjab.

This website is an effort to educate and support people and medical personnel on orthopedic issues and musculoskeletal health.

You can follow him on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter

Primary Sidebar

Browse Articles

Fresh and Healed Blisters on Leg

Complications of Plaster Cast

A plaster cast is given for the treatment of fractures and other orthopedic ailments. Though a very safe mode of treatment, complications of plaster cast may occur. The main complications of plaster cast are stiff joints, muscle wasting, and impaired circulation. Physiotherapy and good nursing can help reduce these complications and speed the final recovery. […]

Dislocation of Ankle

Ankle Dislocation Without Fracture

Ankle dislocation often occurs with fractures of ankle bones especially malleolar fractures and talar fractures. A significant force is required to dislocate the ankle without the fracture. There is an inherent stability of the tibiotalar joint, therefore dislocation of the ankle joint is rarely seen without an associated fracture. Usually, any dislocations that do occur […]

myositis causes and treatment

Myositis Causes and Treatment

Myositis can be caused by infection, injury, certain medicines, exercise, and chronic disease and is characterized by a chronic, progressive, inflammatory disease which most often is indicated by muscle weakness and other associated symptoms. Muscle weakness, sometimes with muscle pain and general tiredness and fatigue are general features of the condition. It can be chronic […]

Normal Olecranon Bursa and Inflamed Olecranon Bursa or Bursitis

Aspiration of Olecranon Bursa

Aspiration of olecranon bursa is performed to obtain fluid for analysis. A bursa can become inflamed due to infection or for noninfective reasons like trauma, overuse, crystal deposition diseases etc. Non-infective or aseptic causes account for approximately two-thirds of all bursitis diagnoses. Infective or septic bursitis most commonly occurs due to seeding of bacteriae or […]

Evidence based orthopedics

What is Evidence Based Orthopedics?

Evidence-based orthopedics is the application of principles of evidence-based medicine to the field of orthopedics. Because each of the medical specialty has its own set of challenges and unique applications, therefore, while the core principles remain the same, the methods and the applications must meet the need of each. What is Evidence-Based Medicine and What […]

transverse foramen fractures occur in the marked area

Transverse Foramen Fractures

Transverse foramen fractures are the fractures which occur in or extend to transverse foramen. The transverse foramen is also known as foramen transversarium. Transverse foramen fractures are important because of their association of vertebral artery injury. The transverse foramen is an opening on each of the transverse processes of the cervical spine which gives passage […]

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Presentation and Treatment

Carpal tunnel syndrome refers to symptoms and signs that occur due to compression of the median nerve within the carpal tunnel, an osteofascial tunnel in the wrist. It is the most common form of compressive neuropathy of the median nerve causing numbness, paresthesias, and pain in the median nerve distribution in the hand. Anterior interosseous […]

© Copyright: BoneAndSpine.com
Manage Cookie Consent
The site uses cookies. Please accept cookies for a better visiting experience.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
 

Loading Comments...