Folks with patellofemoarl pain move differently. But they don’t necessarily engage their trunk differntly. We think we all knew this, but here is a study that looks at it.
“Compared with the control group, the PFP group demonstrated increased ipsilateral trunk lean, hip adduction and knee abduction (p = 0.02-0.04) during single-leg squat accompanied with decreased trunk isometric strength (p = < 0.001-0.009). There was no between-group difference in trunk muscle activation. Only in the control group, ipsilateral trunk lean was significantly correlated with hip adduction (r = -0.66) and knee abduction (r = 0.49); also, the side bridge test correlated with knee abduction (r = -0.51). Differences in trunk, hip and knee biomechanics were found in people with PFP. No relationship among trunk, hip and knee biomechanics was found in the PFP group, suggesting that people with PFP show different movement patterns compared to the control group.”
Man Ther. 2015 Feb;20(1):189-93. doi: 10.1016/j.math.2014.08.013. Epub 2014 Sep 9.Trunk biomechanics and its association with hip and knee kinematics in patients with and without patellofemoral pain.Nakagawa TH1, Maciel CD2, Serrão FV3.
