ACL
ACL return to play!!!
This is a difficult one with an athlete as it is a long road to return to play post anterior cruciate ligament repair (ACLR).
✋There are some accelerated ACLR return to play protocols and some people do return earlier than others but I’d encourage wait.
🤓For every month you wait upto 9 months 51% less chance of re-injury (Grindem et al. 2016).
🤓Biggest deficits of rate of force development between limbs was seen between 4-7 months post ACLR (Turpeinen et al 2020).
🤓Rate of force development is ability to produce maximal muscle activation as quickly as possible (Muffiuletti et al 2016).
So this would suggest your ability to sprint, jump is ⬇️ during this time.
🤷♂️Why risk it? You have put so much work into getting to 6 months - 7 months. Those extra few months will make a difference.
ACLR testing!!!
Previous post- Now that we know time plays a very important role in ACLR return to play (RTP), other simple decision rules can reduce re-injury.
🤓People that pass specific criteria are 4-6 times less risk of re-injury (Kyritsis et al. 2016).
✅quad & hamstring > 90% non-injured
✅hop tests - distance, time & quality of hop tests (Davies et al. 2019)
✅agility t-test < 11 seconds
✅9 months