BACKGROUND

On a questionnaire administered to athletes who had undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), some answered "yes" to a question regarding return to sports (RTS) at the preinjury level despite having lower postoperative subjective athletic performance (PoSAP) intensity compared with preoperative levels.

PURPOSE

To investigate the agreement between responses regarding RTS and PoSAP intensity after ACLR.

STUDY DESIGN

Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3.

METHODS

A total of 44 individuals, 24.8 ± 18.4 months after ACLR, participated in this study. They completed a questionnaire in which PoSAP was graded as a percentage of preoperative performance level. They also gave dichotomous responses (yes/no) to the question of whether they had been able to RTS at the same level as before their injury (RTS question). Participants were divided into 2 groups according to their PoSAP scores using different cutoff values (100%, 90%, 80%, and 70%), and an exploratory analysis was conducted of the cutoff value for dividing PoSAP scores that provided the greatest agreement with the response to the RTS question.

RESULTS

The mean PoSAP score was 87.5% ± 14.9%, and 33 participants (75%) answered "yes" to the RTS question. The agreement between the PoSAP score and the RTS question was lowest when the cutoff value was 100% (κ = 0.294) and highest when the cutoff value was 80% (κ = 0.676) and 90% (κ = 0.632).

CONCLUSION

More athletes who had undergone ACLR answered "yes" to the RTS question even when their PoSAP score was around 80%. Asking only for dichotomous responses may result in overestimating the level to which these athletes' performance has recovered after ACLR.