Sports activity level after ACL reconstruction is predicted by vastus medialis or vastus medialis obliquus thickness, single leg triple hop distance or 6-m timed hop, and quality of life score.

Abstract

Recovery after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) may take > 2years, and younger athletes have higher re-injury risk. The purpose of this prospective longitudinal study was to determine how the early to mid-term Tegner Activity Level Scale (TALS) scores of athletically active males ≥ 2years post-ACLR follow-up was predicted by bilateral isokinetic knee extensor and flexor torque, quadriceps femoris thickness, single leg hop test performance, and self-reported knee function (Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS); International Knee Documentation Committee(IKDC) Subjective Assessment score). After ACLR with a hamstring tendon autograft and safely returning to sports at least twice weekly, 23 men (18.4 ± 3.5years of age) were evaluated at final follow-up (mean = 4.5, range = 2-7years). Exploratory forward stepwise multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between independent surgical and non-surgical lower limb variables peak concentric isokinetic knee extensor-flexor torque at 60°/sec and 180°/sec, quadriceps femoris muscle thickness, single leg hop test profile results, KOOS subscale scores, IKDCSubjective Assessment scores, and time post-ACLR on TALS scores at final follow-up. Subject TALS scores were predicted by KOOS quality of lifesubscale score, surgical limb vastus medialis obliquus (VMO) thickness, and surgical limb single leg triple hop for distance (SLTHD) performance. Subject TALS scores were also predicted by KOOS quality of lifesubscale score, non-surgical limb vastus medialis (VM) thickness, and non-surgical limb 6m single leg timed hop (6MSLTH) performance. TALS scores were influenced differently by surgical and non-surgical lower extremity factors. At ≥ 2years post-ACLR, ultrasound VM and VMO thickness measurements, single leg hop tests that challenge knee extensor function, and self-reported quality of life measurements predicted sports activity levels. The SLTHD test may be better than the 6MSLTH for predicting long-term surgical limb function.