Authors: Myer, G. D., Schmitt, L. C., Brent, J. L., Ford, K. R., Foss, K., Scherer, B. J., & ... Hewett, T. E. (2011).

Journal Of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 41(6), 377-387.

Commentary by Bruce Craven

In this study by Myer GD et al, the authors investigated 18 athletes that had returned to sport without modification following ACL surgery and 20 age, gender and sport matched control subjects. All athletes completed a series of performance based field tests. Myer GD et al, found statistical differences between the groups of athletes in 3 hopping tests. The athletes had an 8-9% deficit on the ACL repair side, when doing the single leg hop, the crossover hop or the triple single leg hop for distance. Similar findings have been found in side to side asymmetries are evident during drop landing and drop vertical jump in patients following ACL reconstruction for up to two years have been reported in the literature by Decker MJ (2002) and Paterno MV (2005) respectively. The return to sport following ACL surgical repair, must be a closely monitored process by all members of the athletes “IST”. Team members must collaborate to ensure that the athlete is not only making a speedy return to sport but more importantly a return to sport that is performance based with the athletes injury risk minimized.