Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties Testing of the Arabic Anterior Knee Pain Scale

BACKGROUND: PFPS is one of the most frequently occurring overuse injuries affecting the lower limbs. A variety of functional and self-reported outcome measures have been used to assess clinical outcomes of patients with PFPS, however, only the Anterior Knee Pain Scale (AKPS) has been designed for PFPS patients. MATERIAL/METHODS: We followed international recommendations to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the AKPS. The Arabic AKPS and the Arabic RAND 36-item Health Survey were administered to 40 patients who were diagnosed with PFPS. Participants were assessed at baseline and after 2 to 3 days assessed with the Arabic AKPS only. The measurements tested were reliability, validity, and feasibility. RESULTS: The Arabic AKPS showed high reliability for both temporal stability, internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.81 for the first assessment and 0.75 for the second), excellent test-retest reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficients ICC=0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93, 0.98) and good agreement (standard error of measurement SEM=1.8%). The Arabic AKPS was significantly correlated with physical components of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey (Spearman’s rho=0.69: p<0.001). No ceiling or floor effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The Arabic AKPS is a valid and reliable tool and is comparable to the original English version and other translated versions.