Better and Safer Return to Sport

Summary

Participation Requirements

Description

Fewer than half of athletes with ACLR return to competitive sports, and, for those who return, 1 in 5 sustain reinjury. Insufficient functional recovery and poor psychological readiness to RTS are thought to contribute to these low RTS rates and high reinjury rates. Previous research has shown that ...

Fewer than half of athletes with ACLR return to competitive sports, and, for those who return, 1 in 5 sustain reinjury. Insufficient functional recovery and poor psychological readiness to RTS are thought to contribute to these low RTS rates and high reinjury rates. Previous research has shown that return to sport (RTS) should be delayed until the athlete passes the criteria of a clinical decision-making tool for RTS. However, to successfully improve RTS and reinjury outcomes, it is imperative that a decision-making tool (1) guides RTS decisions at a specific point in time, and (2) directs the planning and execution of treatments that eventually enable the athlete to safely RTS. Nonprofessional athletes are often discharged from rehabilitation prior to RTS, and most are treated by rehabilitation clinicians who do not have access to the sophisticated and expensive test equipment used in previous research on functional readiness for RTS. The RTS and rehabilitation tool is therefore designed in collaboration with athletes, coaches and primary care physical therapists as a low-cost intervention that is feasible to implement on a broad scale. The athletes who follow the RTS and rehabilitation tool will be recruited from Oslo, Norway, while the control group that receives usual care will be recruited from multiple sites in Sweden. Predefined adjustment factors for the comparative analyses are: age, sex, specific preinjury sport, family history of ACL injury, time from injury to surgery, meniscal and cartilage injury/surgery at ACLR, and ACL graft type. The analysis of reinjury will be adjusted for sports exposure. Objectives To compare 1 and 2-year sports participation, psychological readiness to RTS, knee function and reinjury outcomes between athletes with ACLR who follow a treatment algorithm with a RTS and rehabilitation tool and those who follow usual care To assess adherence and barriers to adherence in athletes with ACLR who follow a treatment algorithm with a RTS and rehabilitation tool

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