Pharmacotherapy for patellofemoral pain syndrome

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: The objective of this review will be to assess the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy in the conservative treatment of pain in the anterior part of the knee (including patellofemoral pain syndrome and chondromalacia patellae) compared with other conservative treatments, or compared with surgical treatment. The specific null hypotheses tested will be: 1. Pharmacotherapy does not reduce pain in the anterior part of the knee compared to no therapy or alternative treatments 2. Pharmacotherapy does not improve function of the knee compared to no therapy or alternative treatments If possible, both hypotheses will be tested: a) using measurements during or at the end of therapy (up to one year after start of therapy) b) using long‐term follow‐up measurements (one year or more after start of therapy) If sufficient data are available, secondary hypotheses will focus on comparing different kinds of pharmacotherapy, on combination of pharmacotherapy with exercise or other therapies and on subgroup analyses (for different sets of diagnostic criteria used, for gender and for age).