Rehabilitation following acute anterior cruciate ligament injuries - a 12-month follow-up of a randomized clinical trial

The efficacy of two non-operative rehabilitation programs was studied in a consecutive randomized controlled clinical trial of 100 patients after 12 m onths subsequent to an acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury Follow up of randomization to two training models was evaluated after 3 and 12 mo nths: A self-monitored training program (SM) of traditional mobility and mu scle strength training of the injured leg was compared to a supervised (SV) training model exercising postural function in closed kinetic-chains. Near ly 50% of the patients in the SM group required supervision after 6 weeks. An intention-to-treat analysis was performed and showed significantly bette r values in most of the results of the supervised group at 3 and 12 months. An alternative analysis of subgroups showed a significant difference betwe en transferred male patients and original SV male patients at 3 months but not at 12 months, indicating the importance of initial guiding after an ACL injury. No such difference was observed in the female patients.