How Do Fear-related Patient Reported Outcomes Changes Following ACL Reconstruction And Rehabilitation?

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose was to determine whether commonly used measures of patient reported outcomes, including the Tampa scale of Kinesiophobia- 17 (TSK-17) change over time during post-operative rehabilitation following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction (ACLR). METHODS: Data from 128 (67 females) patients with primary, unilateral, uncomplicated ACLR (21.7 ± 8.31 yr, 1.72 ± 9.4 m, 75.1 ± 18. 4 kg) were collected. Participants completed the Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Scale (KOOS), International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Tegner Physical activity level scales and the TSK-17 at 2 timepoints following ACLR; 7.6+/-8.8 months and 11.5+/-10.2 months post-surgery. Paired sample t-test were used to compare each variable between the timepoints. Effect sizes were calculated using Cohen’s D. RESULTS: Each patient reported outcome measure demonstrated a statistically significant improvement over time, with small effect sizes (Table 1). The change in TSK-17 was not statistically significant (Table 1). For TSK-17 scores, based on the frequency analysis, among 85 participants, 26 participants had lower scores on the TSK at Visit 2 compared to Visit 1, indicating experiencing less kinesiophobia, while 50 participants had higher scores over the time, 9 participants had no changes in the TSK scores. CONCLUSION: Small magnitude changes in patient reported outcomes were observed in patients recovering from ACLR. The changes in TSK-17 are varied with the majority of patients experiencing higher kinesiophobia scores. The role of changes in TSK-17 during the post-ACLR rehabilitation progression warrants further research.