An injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in your knee is one of the more devastating injuries for any athlete, as you’ll likely need surgery and months of rehab before you can get back in the game. Because ACL injuries often occur during athletic activity or high intensity workouts, it’s no surprise that high school students are one of the populations at the greatest risk for tearing their ACL.
Although we’ve gotten better at repairing and rehabbing patients after an ACL tear, the re-injury rates are still too high. According to recent data published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, nearly one third of young, active athletes who undergo ACL surgery will re-tear their ligament within a few years. In an effort to help reduce those numbers, Norwegian researchers set out to develop a functional screening test to see if they could predict which athletes were at risk for re-injury, and to develop ways to prevent those injuries from occurring.
ACL Study
For their study, researchers collected data from 100 patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction surgery. The average age was 24 years old, and participants were tracked for a period of two years. Over the course of two years, participants were asked to take a monthly online survey about their return to physical activity and if they suffered any knee injuries. The team of researchers also conducted physical tests to evaluate patient knee function and strength of the quadriceps muscle in the leg.
After examining the data, here’s what the researchers concluded:
- 3 out of 4 individuals returned to playing sports withing two years of surgery.
- 24 patients suffered another knee injury during those two years, although not all were ACL injuries.
- Patients who started doing “pivoting and jumping sports” again were 4.32 times more likely to experience knee injuries than those who did not.
- Researchers developed a “Return to Sports” criteria that can help determine if patients can safely return to sports after an ACL injury. Although they didn’t delve into many specifics, they said patients were cleared to return if they passed functional knee movement tests and they had equal strength in both quadriceps.
- Interestingly, only 1 in 4 patients passed the Return to Sports criteria before they returned to athletic activity. Of those who failed the Return to Sports criteria, 38 percent suffered another knee injury, compared to only 5.6 percent among those who passed the test.
Researchers also noted that patients were less likely to suffer an injury if they waited a little longer before returning to sports, but that benefit leveled off at nine months.
“People need to know that rushing back to sport after ACL reconstruction entails significant risks,” said Dr. Hege Grindem, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Research Center for Active Rehabilitation. “If they aim to return to sports with frequent pivoting, participation should be delayed until at least nine months have passed from surgery and they have regained thigh muscle strength comparable to the uninjured leg,” Grindem said.
So if you’re recovering from ACL surgery, here are three things to keep in mind.
1. Have a doctor examine your functional knee abilities.
2. Work with a physical therapist to ensure your quadriceps isn’t weak and putting excess stress on the knee.
3. Don’t rush your return!