Local vibration training improves the recovery of quadriceps strength in early rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A feasibility randomised controlled trial

ACL Reconstruction: Which Additional Physiotherapy Interventions Improve Early-Stage Rehabilitation? A Systematic Review

“…Included studies assessed the effectiveness of Kinesio Taping (KT; three studies) [ 30 , 31 , 32 ], Whole body vibration (WHB; two studies) [ 33 , 34 ], Local Vibration Training (LVT; one study) [ 35 ], trigger point dry needling (TrPDN; one study) [ 36 ], High Tone Power Therapy (HiToP; one study) [ 37 ], alternating magnetic field (one study) [ 38 ], and app-based active muscle training program (App-Based Serious Gaming; one study) [ 39 ]. The included studies were conducted in Italy [ 32 , 34 ], France [ 31 , 35 ], Poland [ 37 , 38 ], Germany [ 33 , 39 ], Spain [ 36 ] and Turkey [ 30 ]. In this review, we included two articles published in 2021 by the same author.…”

“…In the included studies, we found a high level of heterogeneity regarding different interventions, outcomes, and measures but also imprecision of estimates, which did not allow us to undertake a detailed meta-analysis. Knee function was the most measured outcome in eight studies [ 30 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 39 ]; pain [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 36 , 37 , 39 ], ROM [ 30 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], and strength of extensor muscles [ 30 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 37 , 39 ] were evaluated in six studies; edema in five studies [ 30 , 32 , 37 , 38 , 39 ] and strength of flexor muscles in three studies [ 30 , 33 , 34 ]. A subgroup analysis with a synthesis of the outcomes is presented in Table 2 .…”

“…The studies included in the analysis ranged from 4 to 9 on the PEDro scale. According to the PEDro score, four studies [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 35 ] were considered ‘fair’, five studies [ 30 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 39 ] were ‘good’ and one study [ 38 ] was ‘excellent’; 9/10 articles were randomized (90%), but only three had a concealed allocation conducted (30%). All reported publications scored particularly poorly in the blinding of subjects, therapists and assessors, potentially resulting in a higher risk of bias.…”

“…The methodological quality results of the included studies are presented in Table 4 . According to the RoB 2 analysis, 22.2% of included studies [ 36 , 38 ] presented an overall ‘low risk of bias’ and 11.1% of studies [ 35 ] presented ‘high risk of bias’. We had ‘some concerns’ in overall bias in 66.7% of studies [ 30 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 39 ].…”

“…A total of 379 patients (including 74 females and 271 males; Pistone et al did not reveal details of the participants’ gender) took part in the 10 included studies; 189 participants (pooled mean age 28.7 ± 7.40) were allocated to the experimental group and 190 were controls (pooled mean age 29.1 ± 7.9). Study participants underwent ACL reconstruction with hamstring tendon graft [ 31 , 34 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], patellar graft [ 33 ] or other types of the graft [ 30 , 32 , 35 , 36 ] and were enrolled in the study immediately postoperatively [ 31 , 39 ], within the first postoperative week [ 30 , 32 , 35 , 38 ], within a second postoperative week [ 33 , 37 ] or between second and forth postoperative week [ 34 , 36 ].…”