ArticleScientific reports2018
Distinct patterns of variation in the distribution of knee pain.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring the Pain in Patellofemoral Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Examining Signs of Central Sensitization.Journal of athletic training · 2021Pooled it
- From Paper to Digital Applications of the Pain Drawing: Systematic Review of Methodological Milestones.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Pooled it
- Determining the level of cervical radiculopathy: Agreement between visual inspection of pain drawings and magnetic resonance imaging.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2023Trial
- Association of baseline MRI-defined structural features with knee symptom trajectories over nine years: Data from the osteoarthritis initiative (OAI).Osteoarthritis imaging · 2026Article
- Infrared thermal imaging reveals distinct patterns in adolescent anterior knee pain: A pilot study.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2025Article
- Summary and Analysis of Digital Pain Manikin Data in Adults With Pain Experience: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Patients with unilateral patellofemoral pain have altered bone turnover in the painful knee compared to the pain-free knee at rest and after acute knee loading.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2025Article
- Lower Extremity Muscle Volume in Unilateral and Bilateral Patellofemoral Pain: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study Including Superficial and Deep Muscles.Journal of athletic training · 2024Article
- Visualizing and quantifying spatial and qualitative pain sensations.Scandinavian journal of pain · 2022Article
- Digital body mapping of pain quality and distribution in athletes with longstanding groin pain.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Digital Pain Mapping and Tracking in Patients With Chronic Pain: Longitudinal Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- Clinical Significance and Diagnostic Value of Pain Extent Extracted from Pain Drawings: A Scoping Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The patient's expression of pain using digital-body maps expands analytic opportunities for exploring the spatial variation of bodily pain. A common knee pain condition in adolescents and adults is patellofemoral pain (PFP) and recently PFP was shown to be characterized by a heterogeneous distribution of pain. Whether there are important patterns in these distributions remains unclear. This pioneering study assesses the spatial variation of pain using principal component analysis and a clustering approach. Detailed digital-body maps of knee pain were drawn by 299 PFP patients of mixed sex, age, and pain severity. Three pain distribution patterns emerged resembling an Anchor, Hook, and an Ovate shape on and around the patella. The variations in pain distribution were independent of sex, age, and pain intensity. Bilateral pain associated with a longer duration of pain and the majority characterized by the Hook and Ovate pain distributions. Bilateral and/or symmetrical pain between the left and right knees may represent symptoms associated with longstanding PFP. The distinct patterns of pain location and area suggest specific underlying structures cannot be ruled out as important drivers, although central neuronal mechanisms possibly exemplified by the symmetrical representation of pain may play a role in individuals with longstanding symptoms.
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