Specificity of the Femoral Slump Test for the Assessment of Experimentally Induced Anterior Knee Pain

Lai W-H, Shih Y-F, Lin P-L, Chen W-Y, Ma H-L. Specificity of the femoral slump test for the assessment of experimentally induced anterior knee pain.ObjectiveTo assess the specificity of the femoral slump test (FST) when assessing experimentally induced anterior knee pain.DesignCross-sectional, exploratory study.SettingResearch laboratory.ParticipantsAsymptomatic subjects (N=12; 6 men; 6 women) for the study. An experimental pain model was used to simulate anterior knee pain by injecting .25mL of hypertonic saline solution (5% NaCl) into the medial infrapatellar fat pad.InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasureThe changes in pain intensity and diameter after applying the structure differential maneuver (neck flexion/extension) during the FST were recorded and analyzed.ResultsResults revealed that the structure differential maneuver of the FST did not alter the pain intensity or diameter in 9 (neck extension) and 10 (neck flexion) out of 12 subjects, which meant that the FST provided appropriate testing responses in 75% to 83% cases when the anterior knee pain did not originate in neural tissues.ConclusionsThe FST had a specificity of more than .75 when detecting nerve mechanosensitivity problems of anterior knee pain.