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Increased graft retear rate found among female soccer players after ACL reconstruction
At final follow-up, female soccer players and non-soccer athletes had similar mean Lysholm and IKDC scores.
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Female soccer players had an increased rate of graft retear and contralateral ACL injury following ACL reconstruction, according to study results.
“A high percentage of female soccer players experience a re-injury, and in particular those who return to playing soccer are at highest risk,” Diane L. Dahm, MD, professor of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, told Orthopedics Today.
Re-rupture rate
Researchers matched 90 female soccer players who underwent a primary ACL reconstruction to 90 non-soccer athletes for age, activity level and graft type and followed all patients for a mean of 68.8 months postoperatively.
After ACL reconstruction, 74% of athletes returned to competitive soccer. When looking at both graft failures and contralateral ACL tears, soccer players had an overall second ACL injury rate of 28% compared with 5% among non-soccer players.
There was no significant difference in contralateral ACL tears between athletes. At final follow-up, soccer players and non-soccer players had similar mean Lysholm and IKDC scores.
Rehabilitation protocol
Dahm noted putting together a comprehensive rehabilitation and testing protocol prior to allowing return to soccer may help determine potential biomechanical and neuromuscular flaws that would need to be corrected prior to returning patients to the soccer field.
I think we need to look closer at these particular athletes and try to determine the underlying cause and also determine how to modify our rehabilitation and testing protocols,” Dahm said.
She added other research is currently being conducted on decreasing rates of ACL tears by improving ACL surgical techniques.
“Given that a fairly standard surgical technique was utilized for these patients, I think we will make the most gains in the areas of testing and rehabilitation protocols,” Dahm said.– by Casey Tingle
- Reference:
- Allen MM, et al. Am J Sports Med. 2016;doi:10.1177/0363546516648439.
- For more information:
- Diane L. Dahm, MD, can be reached at the Mayo Clinic, Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, 200 First St. SW, Rochester, MN 55905; email: dahm.diane@mayo.edu.
Disclosure: Dahm reports no relevant financial disclosures.