TIMING OF RETURN TO SPORT FOLLOWING ACL RECONSTRUCTION

Abstract

Purpose of Study: To examine if and when patients return to sporting activity following surgery, and how their subjective assessment of ability to perform activities was affected by their injury and surgery. We also wished to examine if there was any difference in the timing of return to sport between different sporting activities and by graft (hamstring or bone, patella tendon, bone (BTB)) used for ACL reconstruction.

Method and Results: 252 ACL reconstructions were followed up for 2.5 years post surgery. They were evaluated pre and post surgery with Mohtadi activity scores evaluating their function for their primary and secondary sporting activities. They were also evaluated regards exactly when they got back if at all to their primary and secondary activities. 84.2% returned to activity1 at a mean of 9.3 months 87.2% returned to activity 2 at a mean of 8.5 months. 60.7% of patients who returned to activity 1 returned at the same level as prior to their injury. 69.8% of those who returned to activity 2 returned at the same level as prior to their injury. There was no significant difference in timing of return to sport between hamstring and BTB graft.

Discussion: We can conclude from this study that the mean time to return to sport following ACL reconstruction is close to what most surgeons) are telling their patients (i.e. 6 to 9 months). However there is wide variation between subjects with a number of complex factors affecting when a person returns to their activity. It is probably wrong for us to give the expectation to all patients that they will be back to their preferred activities at 6 to 9 months.