Role of accelerated rehabilitation versus standard rehabilitation following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using hamstring graft

Background There is no consensus regarding the optimal postoperative rehabilitation program after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Material and methods Forty patients who had a primary anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) with a semitendinosus-gracilis (STG) autograft from a single orthopaedic surgeon were prospectively randomized into 2 groups. Twenty patients were randomized to the accelerated rehabilitation group (100% male, mean age 26.45 ± 4.696 years) and 20 to the standard rehabilitation group (90% male, mean age 28.90 ± 6.307 years). Patients were followed and knee laxity and Tegner activity level values were obtained at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months postoperatively. IKDC score and KOOS score was collected at 3 and 6 months postoperatively and functional score by single leg hop test was measured at 6 months. Results There were no differences between the groups for the baseline characteristics ( P > .05). There was no difference found between the groups in respect to A-P knee laxity, activity level, Patient satisfaction (KOOS score) and functional performance ( P > .05). There were significant differences in the IKDC scores between groups at 3 and 6 months and in the KOOS score at 3 months ( P < .05). Conclusions The current study indicate that an accelerated postoperative protocol is equivalent in terms of laxity, patient satisfaction, functional performance and activity level and better in terms of clinical outcome to a standard rehabilitation protocol after an isolated ACL-R using STG autografts.