No Effect of Return to Sport Test Batteries with and without Psychological PROs on the Risk of a Second ACL Injury: A Critical Assessment of Four Different Test Batteries.
Ramana Piussi, Rebecca Simonson, Johan Högberg and 3 others
PMID 37547843WHAT IT FOUND
Passing return-to-sport tests, whether physical only or including psychological scores, did not predict a second ACL injury in 419 patients.
Test results alone cannot determine readiness; clinicians must consider other risk factors like age and sex.
Key findings
01There were no differences in passing rates for the respective test batteries between patients who suffered a second ACL injury and patients who did not.
02Passing any of the test batteries was not able to identify patients who were at an increased risk of sustaining a second ACL injury.
03No associations between passing any of four clinical tests batteries that included assessments of muscle function and psychological PROs and the risk of a second ACL injury were found.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The exact rehabilitation protocol and patient compliance were not known. Concomitant injuries such as meniscal or cartilage damage were not accounted for, which could influence re-injury risk. Patients who did not return to a high activity level (Tegner ≥ 6) were excluded, so results do not apply to those who struggle to return to sport. Data were taken from the follow-up closest to the time of return to sport, which might not reflect the patient's status at the exact moment of clearance. The Tegner scale measures activity level but not the intensity or duration of exposure to risk.
Declared interests
Author KS reports membership on the Board of Directors of Getinge AB. Funding was provided by the Local Research and Development Board for Gothenburg and Södra Bohuslän. The funding source had no involvement in the study design, analysis, or reporting.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the null finding as evidence that psychological factors are irrelevant to recovery. The study tested specific cut-offs for readiness to predict injury risk. Patients still report psychological struggles, and these factors may influence other aspects of return to sport that were not measured here.