Achieving Full Range Of Motion After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Abstract

A review of 119 consecutive anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions showed that the time from injury to surgery (early versus delayed) did not make a differ ence in obtaining full range of motion. Only patients with late surgery had a slight decrease in range of motion. Followup data were obtained for 111 recon structions. Twenty-one were early surgeries (1 to 14 days), 22 were delayed surgeries (15 to 28 days), and 68 were late surgeries (more than 28 days). The pa tients involved in the 21 early surgeries obtained 0° of knee extension or better and 135° of knee flexion or better. The patients involved in the 22 delayed recon structions reached 0° of knee extension or better and 135° of flexion or better. Among the patients with the 68 late surgeries, 93% of the knees reached 0° of extension or better and all reached at least 135° of flexion. The five patients who did not achieve full knee extension had extension loses less than 4°. All 111 reconstructions were determined stable when full range of motion was achieved based on clinical exam ination, which included the Lachman test, anterior drawer test, pivot shift, and KT-1000 arthrometer when appropriate.