Abstract
Rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructive surgery is designed to prevent the many complications once reported after this procedure. Today, the rehabilitation program emphasizes immediate motion, immediate weight bearing, and early strengthening exercises for the knee extensors and flexors. This study details the isokinetic muscular performance data of 250 male recreational athletes collected at 12 weeks postsurgery. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) for the knee extensors parameters of peak torque, torque to body weight, total work, and average power at 180 and 300 deg/sec. The knee flexors exhibited a significant difference at 180 deg/sec for all isokinetic parameters and no significant difference at 300 deg/sec. The results indicate that at 12 weeks after ACL patellar tendon autograft reconstruction using an aggressive rehabilitation program, the knee flexors' muscular strength appears nearly equal to the contralateral knee, whereas the quadriceps exhibits a deficit of 24–31% in recreational athletes.