The Efficacy of a Tart Cherry Drink for the Treatment of Patellofemoral Pain in Recreational Athletes.

The Efficacy of a Tart Cherry Drink for the Treatment of Patellofemoral Pain in Recreational Athletes.

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is the most common chronic pathology in sports medicine and physiotherapy clinics. As pain and inflammation are the main symptoms of PFP, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic medications are often utilized to decrease pain and inflammation; however alternative treatments are increasingly being sought due to the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal side effects of traditional pain medications. Most researchers advocate conservative treatment, though there is still insufficient clarity regarding the effectiveness of conservative treatment modalities. Dietary interventions for PFP have not received any attention in clinical literature, yet there is a growing body of evidence indicating that cherries have significant anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and pain-mediating effects. Therefore, the primary purpose of the proposed investigation was to test (using a randomized control investigation) the ability of a tart cherry juice blend to provide symptom relief in recreational athletes with PFP and to understand the biological and mechanical mechanisms behind any changes in PFP symptoms.

This is a questionnaire based measurement that allows participants to subjectively rate the extent of their patellofemoral pain symptoms. This measurement is scored on a 0-100 scale with 100 indicating no pain.

This is a questionnaire based measurement that allows participants to subjectively rate their psychological wellbeing. This measurement provides a value that is an average score of 6 questions (overall health, daily activities, physical fitness, feelings, social activities and change in health) that range from 1-5. A lower score indicates better psychological wellbeing.

The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index, is a questionnaire that consists of 19 self-rated questions, grouped into 7 components. Each component is scored separately, weighted equally on a 0 - 3 scale and the scores of the 7 components are then added to give a global score, which has a range of 0 - 21 with higher scores indicating worse sleep quality.

Inclusion Criteria: Recreationally active Suffering from mild to moderate patellofemoral pain with no evidence of any other condition. Exclusion Criteria: Rheumatoid arthritis or other systemic inflammatory condition Chronic pain syndrome Corticosteroid medication in last 2 months (intra-articular or oral) Intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid in the last 9 months Pregnancy Diabetes Food allergies to cherries.