The relationship of physical exercise frequency and type of rehabilitation on knee function and readiness to return to sports after ACL reconstruction: A Literature Review

Introduction, Research Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, and Bibliography

Abstract

Background: ACL injury is a common injury in the young adult population. The annual incidence of ACL injuries in the general population reaches 68.6 per 100,000 people. ACL injuries can be caused by physical contact or non-contact. Management of patients with ACL injuries can include non-operative and surgical approaches. ACL tears cause anatomical and physiological disorders and require a long healing process.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the frequency of physical exercise and the type of rehabilitation on knee function and readiness to return to sports in patients after ACL reconstruction.

Methods: This study was a narrative review, which used secondary data in the form of research journals obtained from various scientific journal database sources on the internet. A search for literature articles was carried out online via PubMed and Google Scholar sites using the keywords "ACL Reconstruction," "Physical Exercise," "Rehabilitation," "Knee Function," and "Physical Readiness".

Results: The five reviewed literature showed a possible relationship between the frequency of physical exercise on knee function and readiness to return to sports after an ACL injury caused by increased physical activity carried out for seven days. There was a significant difference between home-based rehabilitation and supervised rehabilitation on knee function after one year of rehabilitation. Supervised rehabilitation showed a significant improvement in knee function compared to homebased rehabilitation.

Conclusion: There was a possible relationship between the form of rehabilitation on knee function and readiness to return to sports after ACL reconstruction, and a possible relationship between the frequency of physical exercise or the patient's physical activity and knee function, and can minimize the presence of kinesiophobia.