patello-femoral pain

[jillyjar]

Can anyone explain to me what open-chain kinetic exercises are, for knee pain?.

[gsharpe]

Hi jilly.
the difference between open kinetic chain exs (OKC's) and closed kinetic chain (CKC's) is that in a CKC ex the foot is fixed to something ie it is not the end of the movement chain eg squat/leg press/cycling. This type of exercise illicits a co-activation of an antagonist pair in this case hams and quads. An OKC means the foot is not fixed onto another surface eg SLR or active knee extension in sitting. This produces increased shearing at the knee esp in the last 50 or so degs of extn as you will get a concentric followed by an eccentric contraction of the quads and relatively little if any hams, some would argue that the CKC is more functional and less of a strain to the cruciates. Hope this helps