Return to play after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in high-contact sports

Introduction: Know the return to play of Rugby, American football, Australian football and Canadian football players who underwent plastia of the anterior cruciate ligament. Material and method: A systematic review of the publications accessible in scientific databases was carried out between 2013 and 2023. After establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria, two blocks were designed based on the sports modality: Group 1: American and Canadian football players. Group 2: rugby and Australian rules football players. A sample of 3,395 athletes was obtained, of which 2,337 belonged to the first group and 1,058 to the second. The results were evaluated based on age, sex, sport type and time of return to competition. Results: Group 1 is made up of 2,337 players, of which 1,541 (65.94%) returned to the competition, with an average time of 11.37 months. In group 2, 1,058 players were included, of which 855 (80.81%) joined sports activity prior to the injury with an average of 9.21 months. Conclusions: Professional American and Canadian football players have a higher rate of abandonment of their sporting activity and, in cases where they return to competition, the time is higher than that of professional rugby and Australian football players.