Abstract. Introduction. Recently, interest has been revived in the primary repair of the anterior cruciate ligament, which is largely due to the potential possibility of preserving its proprioceptive function. Aim. The aim of the study was to evaluate the proprioceptive function of the knee joint in patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament repair with additional augmentation and to compare the results with similar parameters in patients who underwent anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using semitendinosus muscle tendon. Material and methods. 40 patients were evaluated, who were divided into two groups: in group 1 (n=20), due to damage to the anterior cruciate ligament, its repair with additional augmentation was performed; in group 2 (n=20), anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using tendon of the semitendinosus muscle was performed. Proprioceptive function was tested no earlier than 12 months after surgery using the method of active reproduction of passive positioning and the force sense reproduction method. In addition, the functional state of the treated knee joint was compared using the Knee and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score and International Knee Documentation Committee questionnaire scales. The significance of differences between the study groups was assessed using the Mann-Whitney U-test (differences were considered statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05). Results and discussions. Despite the similar functional outcomes on the questionnaire scales (p>0.05), the patients of group 1 achieved statistically significant better results of the proprioception coefficient for all the methods used in comparison with group 2 (p<0.05). In addition, a comparative assessment of the treated and contralateral healthy joint within the groups showed similar data in group 1 patients (p>0.05) and statistically significant differences in group 2 (p<0.05) also for all methods used. Conclusion. The study demonstrated that the proprioception of the knee joint after anterior cruciate ligament repair is almost identical to that in the contralateral healthy joint and is significantly better than after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with a semitendinosus muscle tendon.
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