Table 3

Summary of consensus-based recommendations from the 2015 and 2017 International Patellofemoral Research Retreats

Statement	New papers	Recommendation
Exercise therapy
Exercise therapy (vs control):
1. Reduces pain the short term	18	Appropriate
2. Improves function and symptoms in the short term	18	Uncertain
3. Reduces pain the medium term to long term		Appropriate
4. Improves function and symptoms in the medium term to long term		Appropriate
Combined hip and knee targeted exercise therapy
5. Reduces pain compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the short term	17 19	Appropriate
6. Improves function compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the short term	19	Appropriate
7. Reduces pain compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the medium term to long term		Appropriate
8. Improves function compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the medium term to long term		Appropriate
Hip targeted exercise therapy:
9. Reduces pain compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the short term		Uncertain
10. Improves function compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the short term		Uncertain
11. Reduces pain compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the medium term to long term		Uncertain
12. Improves function compared with knee targeted exercise therapy in the medium term to long term		Uncertain
Combined interventions
1. Reduces pain in the short term	21	Appropriate
2. Reduces pain in the medium term		Appropriate
3. Reduces pain in the long term among adolescents with PFP		Uncertain
Prefabricated foot orthoses
1. Reduces pain in the short term		Appropriate
2. Improves function in the short term		Uncertain
Patellar taping and bracing
1. Tailored or untailored patellar taping to reduce pain immediately during functional tasks	25	Uncertain
2. Combine untailored patellar taping with exercise to further reduce pain in the long term		Uncertain
3. Patellar bracing to reduce pain in the short term and medium term	22 26	Uncertain
Other adjunctive interventions
1. Acupuncture or dry needling to trigger points reduces pain in the short/medium term*	27	Uncertain*
2. Patellofemoral and knee mobilisation improves pain or functional outcomes in the short term		Inappropriate
3. Lumbar mobilisation/manipulation improves pain or functional outcomes in the short term	29	Inappropriate
4. Electrophysical agents (eg, ultrasound, phonophoresis and laser therapy) improves pain or functional outcomes in the short term		Inappropriate
5. Manual soft tissue techniques (eg, ischaemic compression to peripatellar and retropatellar trigger points; myofascial techniques) are beneficial in the short term*	29 32	Uncertain*
6. Blood flow restriction training is superior to knee-focused exercise therapy to reduce pain with activities of daily living in the short term*	28	Uncertain*
7. Gait retraining reduces pain and improve function in the short term*	18 30	Uncertain*

Statements in italics were voted on as new/revised statements in 2017.
Long term: >12 months; medium term: 6–12 months; short term: <6 months.
*Wording has been amended for consistency with 2015 statements.