Post-Operative Accelerated Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair Rehabilitation Protocols (3-6 Months)

Post-operative(post-op) accelerated Anterior Cruciate ligament repair rehabilitation protocols (Weeks 5-8) blog continued to 2-6 months.¹ While progressing towards the third month of post-op, the athlete should continue to increase the amount of weight, from 3lbs to 5lbs, sets, and repetitions, from 3 sets of 8-10 to 3 sets of 15-20 for strengthening exercises. ¹ At the beginning of the third month, the athlete should move towards plyometric exercises and jogging activities. ¹ Some plyometric exercises that can be done are low intensity place jumps, to work on the athlete’s amortization phase, the amount of time it takes an athlete to switch from an eccentric to a concentric contraction, and two-foot ankle pops, which are jumps using only the ankles. ¹.

During the third leading to the fourth month, the athlete should be progressed to:

·         running/sprinting

·         aggressive plyometric exercises

o   stair runs

o   progressive jumps

§  cone jumps

§  long jumps. ¹

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The athlete should continue strengthening exercises as long as they have full flexion.² During the fourth month if the strength is at 80% of the bilateral knee, static and dynamic balance activities, such as single leg balance (SLB), single leg jumps (SLJ), and single leg line jumps can be attempted. ¹ 

For the final 2 months of post-op (months 5 and 6), the rehabilitation program should continue with strengthening and flexibility exercises. The athlete should also progress towards more functional activities to prepare for return to play. ¹ Progress to the sport specific activities, such as court shuffles for basketball and volleyball or approach jumping, in the final month then to return to play. ¹ Continue with ultrasound, cryotherapy, and electrical stimulation (E-stim) for pain control. ¹

¹ Houglum, P. (2010). Therapeutic exercise for musculoskeletal injuries. (3 ed., pp. 276-283, 890-891). Greensboro: Human Kinetics.

²Shelbourne, D., & Klotz, C. (2006). What i have learned about the acl: utilizing a progressive rehabilitation scheme to achieve total knee symmetry after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Journal of Orthopedic Science, 11, 318-325. doi: DOI 10.1007/s00776-006-1007-z