Asymmetrical Lower Extremity Loading After ACL Reconstruction: More Than Meets the Eye

Asymmetrical Lower Extremity Loading Early After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Is a Significant Predictor of Asymmetrical Loading at the Time of Return to Sport

“…29 Lastly, using LSI in research and clinical practice for rehabilitation has been frequently questioned as it may conceal results of physical performance, in particular during longterm observational studies. 30 It has been argued that asymmetry alone cannot be used to understand which of the two limbs has improved or worsened. However, while this limitation applies to single-legged tasks, it may not be relevant to double-legged functional movements looking at how load was managed between the two limbs.…”

Suggestions From the Field for Return to Sports Participation Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: American Football

“…4 If these systems are not available, a skilled eye that has experience observing various movement patterns will suffice. Eventually, having movement-based qualitative standards for performance and skilllevel tasks would also be helpful, just as the FMS is currently used to screen and rank dysfunctional and/or painful fundamental movement.…”

“…rehabilitation, as evidence suggests that it is a useful tool to predict injury risk in multiple populations 5,13,29 and it allows one to see if satisfactory results on measures of impairment at a specific joint correlate with multisegmental movement competency and adequate motor control before the body is under higher stress in an advanced stage of rehabilitation. For similar reasons, a tool like the Y Balance Test could be used to determine if asymmetry exists in the weight-bearing function of the lower extremities.…”

Rate of Force Development as an Adjunctive Outcome Measure for Return-to-Sport Decisions After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

“…The amount of time between the injury and ACL reconstruction surgery was 4.3  2.8 (range, 2-9) months. The amount of time between preseason testing and the 6-month postsurgery assessment was 11.3  2.2 (range, [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] months. Finally, the amount of time between preseason testing and the 12-month postsurgery assessment was 18.5  2.8 (range, [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] months.…”

“…J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2012;42 (9) to return athletes to unrestricted sports activities postsurgery are not demanding enough or that variables more important for safe return to unrestricted sports activities are not being evaluated postsurgery. A recent editorial 10 highlighted the potential for residual neuromuscular deficits to be present in both limbs following ACL injury and reconstruction.…”