Dalia, AD., Page DL, Cropper SJ, Elser, T; Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to respectively evaluate the efficacy of physical therapy (PT) interventions on selected outcomes in patients following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Rehabilitation charts of 28 patients (16 male and 12 female, median age = 26 years) with ACL reconstructions were collected and tabulated according to a survey form developed by the investigators. The survey form contained personal and medical data, frequency of physical therapy (PT) sessions, and rehabilitation and function tasks. The rehabilitation and function tasks were then classified into the following outcomes and parameters: (1) knees range of motion, (2) strength of the hips and the knees, (3) pain outcome, (4) function outcomes which include gait, balance, returning to sports leisure, bilateral squat, and climbing one flight of stairs. The parameters were then assigned scores developed by the authors. ANALYSES AND RESULTS: The effect of PT interventions as determined by the number of PT sessions on the rehabilitation and function outcomes were analyzed utilizing a one way (ANOVA) followed by post - hoc Tukey test with a P <0.05 considered significant. The preliminary results demonstrated that PT interventions significantly improved strength and function outcomes, a slight increase in pain threshold, but no changes on ROM. CONCLUSION: Patients who attended a greater number of physical therapy sessions following ACL reconstruction had better outcomes than patients who attended fewer visits. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

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