Associations between postural orientation errors in patients undergoing rehabilitation for ACL reconstruction and future patient-reported outcomes: An explorative study

Objective

To investigate associations between postural orientation errors (POEs) in patients undergoing rehabilitation for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) at 2-year follow-up.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Methods

Fifty-three participants (mean (SD) 27 (6.5) years, 24 women), (mean (range) 7 (4–10) months post ACLR) were included. At baseline, all participants were visually assessed for POEs using a validated test battery. The POE subscales Activities of Daily Living and Sport were used in the analysis. At 2-years, the following PROMs were collected: Global knee function, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, ACL Quality of Life (QoL), Knee Self-Efficacy Scale (K-SES), and ACL Return-to-Sport after Injury scale.

Results

Twenty-one participants answered the questionnaires at 2 years (7 women and 14 men). Worse baseline POE Sport was associated with worse scores on K-SES (r_s ​= ​–0.435, p ​≤ ​0.049) and ACL-QoL (r_s ​= ​−0.467 to −0.576, p ​≤ ​0.038) at follow-up. No statistically significant associations were observed between POEs and the other PROMs.

Conclusion

Postural orientation during the rehabilitation phase may be important for future knee self-efficacy and knee-related QoL after ACLR. Given the small population and low response rate, this result needs to be confirmed in future research.