Physical and Muscular Performance in a Professional Soccer Player with a Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Following an Isokinetic Exercise Program: A Case Report.
Fernanda Qrc Mostagi, Pedro Ac Silva, Giovana R Munaro and 5 others
PMID 39371189WHAT IT FOUND
Injured-knee torque was higher and function score went from 71 to 79 points after a nine-week program of cycling warm-up, isokinetic knee strengthening, and stretching in one soccer player with a Grade III PCL injury.
This is one case, not evidence it works for others.
Key findings
01Knee extension peak torque normalized by body mass increased from 2.8 to 4 Nm/kg at 60°/s, from 2.0 to 3.4 Nm/kg at 120°/s, and from 1.5 to 2.0 Nm/kg at 300°/s.
02Knee flexion peak torque normalized by body mass increased from 1.3 to 2.3 Nm/kg at 60°/s, from 1.6 to 2.1 Nm/kg at 120°/s, and from 1.1 to 1.3 Nm/kg at 300°/s.
03The Lower Extremity Functional Scale score changed from 71 to 79 points after treatment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This is a case report, so it describes one player and cannot show that the treatment works for other patients. The program included cycling warm-up, isokinetic strengthening, and stretching, so the paper cannot separate the contribution of any single component. The control athlete was used only to compare isokinetic performance, not to test whether the program caused the changes. The player had a partial medial collateral ligament rupture and a medial meniscal injury, so this is not an isolated posterior cruciate ligament case. The Lower Extremity Functional Scale was used because no specific patient-reported outcome measure for posterior cruciate ligament injury was available. The paper reports no performance-based functional tests for return-to-sport decisions and no longer-term follow-up. Muscle performance was not assessed in eccentric mode or at other velocities such as 180°/s. The isokinetic dynamometer has high cost.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest. Funding included FINEP support to obtain the isokinetic dynamometer, and the authors received support from CAPES, Fundação Araucária, and CNPq.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the torque and function score changes as proof that isokinetic exercise works for posterior cruciate ligament injuries. Only one player received the cycling warm-up, isokinetic strengthening, and stretching program, and the paper does not separate the effects of these components or compare them with usual care.