Return to sports after ACL injury 5 years from now: 10 things we must do

Alli Gokeler; Alberto Grassi; Roy Hoogeslag; Albert van Houten; Tim Lehman; Caroline Bolling; Matthew Buckthorpe; Grant Norte; Anne Benjaminse; Pieter Heuvelmans; Stefano Di Paolo; Igor Tak; Francesco Della Villa

doi:10.1186/s40634-022-00514-7

Return to sports after ACL injury 5 years from now: 10 things we must do

J Exp Orthop. 2022 Jul 30;9(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s40634-022-00514-7.

Authors

Alli Gokeler^{1

2

3}, Alberto Grassi⁴, Roy Hoogeslag⁵, Albert van Houten⁵, Tim Lehman⁶, Caroline Bolling⁷, Matthew Buckthorpe⁸, Grant Norte⁹, Anne Benjaminse^{10

11}, Pieter Heuvelmans⁶, Stefano Di Paolo¹², Igor Tak^{7

13}, Francesco Della Villa¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine OCON, Hengelo, The Netherlands. a.gokeler@ocon.nl.
² Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam Collaboration On Health and Safety in Sports, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands. a.gokeler@ocon.nl.
³ Department Exercise and Health, Faculty of Science, Exercise Science and Neuroscience, Paderborn University, Paderborn, Germany. a.gokeler@ocon.nl.
⁴ IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
⁵ Centre for Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine OCON, Hengelo, The Netherlands.
⁶ Department Exercise and Health, Faculty of Science, Exercise Science and Neuroscience, Paderborn University, Paderborn, Germany.
⁷ Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam Collaboration On Health and Safety in Sports, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁸ Allied Health and Performance Science, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London, England.
⁹ Exercise Science Program, School of Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Human Movement Sciences, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
¹¹ School of Sport Studies, Hanze University Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
¹² Dipartimento Di Scienze Biomediche E Neuromotorie DIBINEM, Università Di Bologna, Bologna, BO, Italy.
¹³ Sports Physical, Therapy Clinic Fysiotherapie Utrecht Oost, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
¹⁴ Education and Research Department, Isokinetic Medical Group, FIFA Medical Center of Excellence, Bologna, Italy.

Abstract

Background: The outcome after ACL reconstruction (ACLR) is in general disappointing with unacceptable number of athletes that do not return to pre-injury level of sports, high re-injury rates, early development of osteoarthritis and shorter careers. Athletes after ACLR have high expectation to return to sports which is in contrast with the current outcomes. The aim of this manuscript is to present an overview of factors that are needed to be incorporated and to personalize the rehabilitation process for an athlete who has undergone an ACLR.

Keywords: ACL; AMI; Biomechanics; Context; Neuroplasticity; Psychological; Return to sports; Strength; Surgery.

Publication types

Review