Functional tasks before and after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction : are there mechanical differences?
type: CreativeWork
description: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a major cause of significant time loss to sports participation, as well as reportedly leading to an increased risk of osteoarthritis (OA). Knee instability and functional adaptations are likely to occur following injury to the ACL, despite many ACL-deficient (ACLD) patients displaying no, or minimal, visible impairment. ACL reconstruction (ACLR) is the most common form of treatment for physically active individuals following an ACL injury. The aim of most individuals is to return to preinjury levels of physical activity after ACLR. However, most individuals experience persistent changes to lower extremity biomechanics well after completing structured rehabilitation and being cleared to return to activity. Despite this, there is little data available on individuals with an ACLD, or ACL-reconstructed ACLR knee and biomechanical alterations leading to the development of OA. Numerous studies that have investigated walking gait have found significant reductions in peak internal knee extensor moment, and small reductions in peak knee flexion angle, with individuals adopting a quadriceps avoidance gait pattern during walking. One of the most common activities pre- and post- surgery is running, and it is not known whether individuals before and after ACLR knee have different knee kinematic and kinetic patterns to healthy individuals. However, in general clinical practice, the option to ask the individual to run and to assess this is limited, and so a more space-optimised clinical assessment is needed. Therefore, the single leg squat (SLS) has been chosen as the measure to assess these individuals. No previous study has been found on kinematics and kinetics before and after ACLR during running and SLS. Therefore, the research question of this thesis is to determine whether there is an alteration in the kinematics and kinetics of hip and knee joints, along with the related risk factors for patellofemoral pain syndrome and OA, before …
abstract: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a major cause of significant time loss to sports participation, as well as reportedly leading to an increased risk of osteoarthritis (OA). Knee instability and functional adaptations are likely to occur following injury to the ACL, despite many ACL-deficient (ACLD) patients displaying no, or minimal, visible impairment. ACL reconstruction (ACLR) is the most common form of treatment for physically active individuals following an ACL injury. The aim of most individuals is to return to preinjury levels of physical activity after ACLR. However, most individuals experience persistent changes to lower extremity biomechanics well after completing structured rehabilitation and being cleared to return to activity. Despite this, there is little data available on individuals with an ACLD, or ACL-reconstructed ACLR knee and biomechanical alterations leading to the development of OA. Numerous studies that have investigated walking gait have found significant reductions in peak internal knee extensor moment, and small reductions in peak knee flexion angle, with individuals adopting a quadriceps avoidance gait pattern during walking. One of the most common activities pre- and post- surgery is running, and it is not known whether individuals before and after ACLR knee have different knee kinematic and kinetic patterns to healthy individuals. However, in general clinical practice, the option to ask the individual to run and to assess this is limited, and so a more space-optimised clinical assessment is needed. Therefore, the single leg squat (SLS) has been chosen as the measure to assess these individuals. No previous study has been found on kinematics and kinetics before and after ACLR during running and SLS. Therefore, the research question of this thesis is to determine whether there is an alteration in the kinematics and kinetics of hip and knee joints, along with the related risk factors for patellofemoral pain syndrome and OA, before …
author: Alarifi, SM
language: en
date published: 2026
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:26:35Z
provider: U. of Salford
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: U. of Salford