Measurement of functional recovery after an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in competitive athletes; development of a measuring method

Many athletes with an anterior cruciate ligament tear do not return to their original sport level after reconstruction, in spite of good results on clinical tests. After an anterior cruciate ligament tear, knee joint proprioception is shown to be decreased. This leads to the use of compensatory mechanisms, such as cognitive and visual motor control, which are not automated. A decrease in dependency on cognitive and visual motor control indicates restoration of knee joint proprioception, and thereby functional recovery. Athlete dependency on cognitive and visual motor control can be measured by manipulating visual information and cognitive load while athletes are required to complete a motor task. In the current work, participants were required to complete a balance task and a figure-eight sprinting task while visual ability was constrained and a concurrent cognitive task was asked of them. Dependency on cognitive and visual motor control of healthy athletes was shown to be measurable for both motor tasks. An effect of fatigue on the dependency of compensatory mechanisms has until now not been proven to be perceptible