EFFECTIVENESS OF PREHAB ON TREATMENT OUTCOMES FOLLOWING ACL RECONSTRUCTION: A LITERATURE REVIEW
Subin Binod * Manjula ** Rajna KM***
bpt student* bpt student** lecturer***
Email Id (corresponding author) subin17binod@gmail.com
Contact number 9446951028
The Oxford college of physiotherapy Bangalore
Introduction
The ACL is the most commonly injured ligament, with a yearly incidence of 68.6%. Usually,
it is managed by ACL reconstruction surgery. Pre operative rehabilitation (PreHab) is
prescribed along with post operative rehabilitation for preparing patients for surgery and
improving postoperative physiological, and psychological outcomes. But clinically the use of
PreHab seems to be limited and circumscribed.
Objective
To evaluate the effectiveness of PreHab on treatment outcomes following ACL
reconstruction by doing a literature review.
Method
Articles were collected from PubMed, google scholar, Cochrane . Studies from last 10 years
were assessed, which include RCTs, systematic reviews etc Articles were searched and the
inclusion criterias were ACl reconstruction with PreHab and exclusion criterias were non
english language articles and observational studies. Ten articles (* systematic reviews and 2
RCTs) were selected, based on inclusion criteria. They were assessed for validity and
outcomes.
Result
Nine among ten articles showed effectiveness of PreHab on improving outcomes of treatment
following ACL reconstruction like knee related function and improving muscle strength and
one article showed it is not effective.
Conclusion
PreHab is found to be effective in preparing patients for the surgery and improving the
postoperative physiological, psychological, knee related functions and muscle strength after
ACL reconstruction. Therefore, PreHab should be given equal importance as post operative
rehabilitation following ACL reconstruction.
Key words:
ACL reconstruction, rehabilitation, pre operative rehabilitation, PreHab.