Darracott 1973.

Methods	RCT, double blind, method of randomisation not specified Low quality: Delphi score 3
Participants	43 military patients with severe unilateral painful patella, fulfilling diagnostic criteria of chondromalacia patellae 40 male, 3 female Age 17‐34 (mean 22, SD 4) Duration of symptoms 4 ‐ 36 months, onset due to trauma in 12 patients, to surgery in 11, to patellar subluxation, 2 to severe exercise, 1 to kneeling and 16 spontaneous
Interventions	All patients performed gradually increasing exercises to reverse quadriceps inhibition for 6‐8 weeks until return to full circuit and battle training, combined with: (1) Intramuscular administration of nandrolone phenylpropionate 25 mg weekly for 6 weeks (anabolic ester in arachis oil) (n=23) (2) Intramuscular administration of placebo weekly for 6 weeks (arachis oil) (n=20)
Outcomes	Subjective change in clinical symptoms Change in bone density in skyline radiographs (using healthy knee for calibration)
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment?	Unclear risk	B ‐ Unclear