Brief summary, from the abstract
Nine months after ACL reconstruction, the reconstructed leg still showed clear biomechanical deficits across several jump and landing tests, suggesting rehabilitation was incomplete at that point. The single-leg drop jump exposed larger between-limb differences than the single-leg hop for distance.
- 156 male patients were tested 9 months post-surgery using 3D motion capture across four jump tasks (double-leg drop jump, single-leg drop jump, single-leg hop for distance, hurdle hop).
- The reconstructed side showed lower internal knee valgus moment (effect sizes 0.77-0.92), knee internal rotation angle (0.59-0.8), and ankle external rotation moment (0.59-0.73).
- Performance gaps were largest in the single-leg drop jump (limb symmetry index 78%) and smallest in the hop for distance (LSI 94%), so the hop test alone may understate remaining deficits.
- Single-task crossover study of a selected male-only group, so results may not generalize to women or directly translate to return-to-sport decisions.
Clinically assessing this area? See the knee special tests.