The Effects of Dry Needling on Patients With Knee Pain

Inclusion Criteria:

* 18-40 years-of-age
* Referred for physical therapy
* Presence of anterior knee pain around the patella during ascending/descending stairs, squatting, and/or running for at least 3 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Unable to provide consent
* Bilateral patellofemoral pain syndrome
* Received previous dry needling treatments
* Pregnancy
* History of pain less than 3 months
* Imaging demonstrating the presence of confounding internal abnormality (e.g. chondral defects, ligamentous injury, and/or meniscal pathology),
* Patellar instability
* Presence of a neurological condition that would affect movement
* Contraindications to dry needling techniques (e.g. a history of bleeding disorders, phobia of needles, an active cancer diagnosis, and presence of other systemic illness such as fever or signs of infection)
* Actively receiving treatment for knee pain outside of the current study protocol while enrolled in the study;
* received active and supervised PT treatment for knee pain within the last 4 weeks;
* history of knee surgery less than 6 months ago
* history of surgical correction of the patellofemoral complex (e.g. MPFL reconstruction, patellar realignment surgery, etc)