A comparison of anterior cruciate ligament - Return to sports after injury (ACL-RSI) scores of male athletes nine-months Post-ACL reconstruction with matched uninjured controls.

OBJECTIVES

To report ACL-RSI scores in healthy athletes with no history of ACL injury. To measure ACL-RSI scores at nine-months post-ACL reconstruction and to assess the difference between healthy athlete and patient responses.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Private sports clinic.

PARTICIPANTS

499 ACL reconstruction athletes completed the scale as they returned for their nine-month post-operative review appointment. A matched control group of 103 healthy athletes were selected for comparison.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

ACL-RSI for participants with controls completing a study-specific modified scale.

RESULTS

The median response to the ACL-RSI for the control group was higher (80.0) (Interquartile Range (IRQ) 66.7-88.3) than that of the ACL reconstruction group (74.17) (IRQ 59.2-86.0), however the effect size was small (0.1).

CONCLUSION

This study reports normative values for uninjured athletes using the ACL-RSI questionnaire giving a benchmark for recovery after ACLR but also reflecting awareness of injury risk in uninjured athletes. ACL-RSI scores nine-months post-operatively had not yet returned to levels seen in matched uninjured controls.