Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this present study was to examine contralateral ACL injury cases after ACL reconstruction, to determine the characteristics of such injuries.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis of 24 patients with contralateral ACL injury after ACL reconstruction. The control group consisted of 200 cases with unilateral ACL injury. The following were examined in the contralateral group: timing of the contralateral ACL injury, and the situations of the initial and contralateral ACL injuries. The following items were compared between the contralateral and control groups: age at the time of initial injury, level of competitive sports using Tegner activity scores, knee anterior laxity (KT-1000), and the ratio (%) of affected to unaffected legs in the strengths of the knee extensor and flexor muscles 6 months after surgery.ResultsExamination of injury situations showed that approximately 70% of the contralateral group was injured in situations similar to those at their initial injuries. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age at the time of initial injury , Tegner activity scores, knee anterior laxity, and the strengths of the knee extensor, flexor muscles and H/Q ratio 6 months after reconstruction. But, the age at the time of initial injury trended to be low in contralateral group.ConclusionsKnee anterior laxity and muscle weakness of the reconstructed legs six months following surgery were not individually related to contralateral ACL injury occurring approximately two years after surgery.
Highlights
In recent years, there has been an increase in the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury accompanying the increase in people playing sports
The patients were permitted to return to playing sports if they met the following conditions: (1) 6 months or more had passed since the surgery, (2) there was neither swelling of the knee joint nor limited range of motion, (3) there was no instability by objective and subjective assessment, and (4) for the strengths of the knee extensor and flexor muscles, the ratio of affected to unaffected legs was over 80%
There were no significant differences in the age at the time of injury, Tegner activity score, knee anterior laxity and knee extensor and flexor muscle strength
Summary
There has been an increase in the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury accompanying the increase in people playing sports. The incidence of primary ACL injury has been reported as 1.5% to 1.7% per year in a healthy athletic population [1,2]. The majority of ACL injuries occur during landing, deceleration, or side cutting maneuvers [3]. The athlete’s desire to return to sport is cited as a major indication for ACL reconstruction surgery [4]. Previous studies reported that the rate of return to sports was 70-80% [5,6].
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