HOME OR SUPERVISED REHABILITATION FOLLOWING ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION - A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Rehabilitation following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructi on is varied. Patients are usually prescribed an independent home exer cise program, although some patients may attend physical therapy for a dditional supervised exercise. it is not known whether additional supe rvised exercise provides any further benefit. The purpose oi this stud y was to compare efficacy for two types of rehabilitation following AC I reconstruction. A randomized controlled trial of 31 ACL-reconstructe d patients was used to test the hypothesis that a home program plus su pervised rehabilitation (Group S) is more effective than a home progra m (Group H) alone. Function, activity level, anterior tibial translati on, and muscle strength were measured preoperatively and at 3 and 6 mo nths postoperatively. Improvement oi function, activity level, muscle strength, and anterior tibial translation was evident in both groups, but no significant differences were found between groups even though t he sample size was sufficient to detect small treatment effects. It wa s concluded that supervised exercise, in addition to a home program, h as minimal extra benefit for patients who have undergone ACI reconstru ction.