Assesment of the Q angle in patients with medial meniscus lesions

Introduction and Purpose: The knee joint is the most complex and the biggest joint of human body. In order to get either static or dynamic stability which necessary for normal joint function the joint must have normal biomechanic features. The Q angle is a biomechanic meausurement that represents the pulling angle of Quadriceps muscle. Medial meniscus lesions is one of the most common lesions of the knee joint. Atrophy of the Quadriceps muscle is one of the symptoms, can be seen in medial meniscus lesions. In this present study, ıt was aimed to asses the Q angle in patients with medial meniscus lesion. Material and Method: We started our study after the ethical committee approval. Twenty four adult male patients, ages between 20-50 years old,with medial meniscus lesion who were applied to Phyisical Therapy and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic of Turgut Ozal Medical Center and 28 volunteered healthy adult male controls in the same age group were included to our study. All measurements were done as subjects placed in supine position and full knee extansion by standardised plastic goniometer. Knees with lesion and same knees of controls, bilateral knees of control group, healthy knees of patient group and same knees of controls were compared.. Results: The average Q angle value in knees with lesion was 15° while it was 9,6° for right and 9,5° for left knees of healty controls. A statistically significant difference was noted between the knees with lesion in patient group and same side knees of controls, and between both knees of patient group Conclusion: The Q angle values were significantly increased in patients with medial meniscus lesion when compared with healthy knees. However, the further studies, measuring leg dominance and muscle strength are required.