The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is more frequent in athletes, particularly in females. Most ACL ruptures occur during sports activities in the age group of 15 to 25 year old athletes. The injury mechanism is a valgus/external rotation trauma with a slightly bend knee. The prevalence is 48 per 1,000 patients per year. In 9% of these cases, there is damage to one or more ligaments, of which the anterior cruciate ligament is the most commonly injured. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of two different accelerated rehabilitation protocols on muscular strength and functional status of the patient after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
Twenty subjects undergone to ACL reconstruction using a patellar tendon auto-graft (bone-tendon-bone) participated in this study. The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups. Each group received a different accelerated rehabilitation protocol for 6 months. Muscular strength was measured using manual muscle testing technique and Knee functional status of the patient was measured using Cincinnati knee rating scale (CKRS). The group A showed more significant improvement in functional status with the mean value CKRS 229 at 2nd month as compared to 217 of group B, mean value 316 at 4th month as compared to 307 of group B and mean value at 6th month 412 as compared to 372 of group B. Group A also showed a significant improvement in range of motion. Both the groups showed a significant improvement in muscular strength but the clinically group A showed early improvement in muscular strength than the group B.
