Does ACL Reconstruction Lead to Degenerative Joint Disease or Does It Prevent Osteoarthritis? How to Read Science

In this issue of our Journal, Hoffelner et al. from Salzburg, Austria, present findings of a retrospective study showing that athletes (mostly soccer players or alpine skiers) with an isolated ACL rupture showed no increased risk of developing post-traumatic osteoarthritis in the long term after ACL replacement when compared with the uninjured knee. The authors selected 28 patients after ACL reconstruction without concomitant injuries at baseline who returned to previous sports. In these patients, the ACL was arthroscopically reconstructed using patellar tendon or hamstrings and a transtibial drilling technique.