This study introduces the Kujala Anterior Knee Pain Scale, a 13-item patient-completed questionnaire scored out of 100. It asks which history questions best discriminate among controls, anterior knee pain, patellar subluxation, and dislocation. It also correlates the score with patellar tilt and displacement on MRI.
The Kujala score is the patient-reported outcome tool you will see attached to nearly every patellofemoral instability and anterior knee pain study, so know what it measures and how it behaves. It is 13 items, patient-completed, scored 0 to 100, with higher being better. The score drops in a predictable gradient as you move from controls toward recurrent dislocation.
Use the six high-yield history questions on every anterior knee pain workup: abnormal patellar movements, limp, pain, running, stairs, and prolonged sitting with knees flexed. Two classic exam pearls live here. Pain descending stairs more than ascending, and the theater sign (pain with prolonged knee flexion forcing extension) point you toward patellofemoral pain.
The MRI arm reinforces a board concept: lateral patellar tilt is best detected in extension during quadriceps contraction, before the patella engages the trochlea, and greater tilt distinguishes dislocators (27°) from subluxators (17°).
This study introduces the Kujala Anterior Knee Pain Scale, a 13-item patient-completed questionnaire scored out of 100. It asks which history questions best discriminate among controls, anterior knee pain, patellar subluxation, and dislocation. It also correlates the score with patellar tilt and displacement on MRI.
The Kujala score is the patient-reported outcome tool you will see attached to nearly every patellofemoral instability and anterior knee pain study, so know what it measures and how it behaves. It is 13 items, patient-completed, scored 0 to 100, with higher being better. The score drops in a predictable gradient as you move from controls toward recurrent dislocation.
Use the six high-yield history questions on every anterior knee pain workup: abnormal patellar movements, limp, pain, running, stairs, and prolonged sitting with knees flexed. Two classic exam pearls live here. Pain descending stairs more than ascending, and the theater sign (pain with prolonged knee flexion forcing extension) point you toward patellofemoral pain.
The MRI arm reinforces a board concept: lateral patellar tilt is best detected in extension during quadriceps contraction, before the patella engages the trochlea, and greater tilt distinguishes dislocators (27°) from subluxators (17°).