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School-aged athletes regain athletic ability after ACL surgery

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LAS VEGAS — Boys and girls frequently returned to competitive basketball and soccer within about 4 to 6 months after ACL reconstruction surgery, according to investigators who followed 402 school-aged patients whose first ACL injuries occurred when they were aged 17 years or younger.

Those athletes studied often returned to a higher level of sport, with some 20% of them going on to college-level competition, researchers reported.

“Returning to sports quickly did not increase the incidence of subsequent ACL injury in either knee,” K. Donald Shelbourne, MD, said at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 76th Annual Meeting, here.

Following primary ACL reconstruction 87% of boys and girls who played basketball returned to play, while 93% of girls and 80% of boys resumed playing soccer, according to the results.

Shelbourne and colleagues prospectively enrolled 413 patients in the study, obtaining complete follow-up data for 402 of them about their postsurgical activity levels. They reviewed data for 300 basketball players (58 men, 242 women) and 102 soccer players (25 men, 77 women) through exams, surveys, and telephone or e-mail communications.

The results suggest that returning to competitive sport is highly possible after an ACL reconstruction.

Still, “Time frames for getting back to sports may vary among athletes” and be affected by the surgical technique and rehabilitation methods used, Shelbourne said in a press release.

During the discussion period, Shelbourne was questioned a few times about whether return to play was a valid assessment of how patients fared with reconstruction. Lars Engebretsen, MD, noted the study lacked controlled assessments of knee laxity and strength. Just because these school-aged athletes go back to sport at 4 months, “That is not proving they are doing fine,” he said.

Reference:

• Shelbourne KD, Bohard K, Gray T, Urch SE. Return to basketball and soccer after ACL reconstruction in competitive school-aged athletes. Paper #10. Presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 76th Annual Meeting. Feb. 25-28, 2009. Las Vegas.