Director of Studies: Dr Marcus Dunn (M.Dunn@shu.ac.uk)

Summary:

Following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructive surgery, only 55% of patients return to sport. In adolescents, ≤23% suffer re-injury (i.e. ACL re-rupture), requiring further surgery and rehabilitation. Aside from surgical and rehabilitation costs, re-injury increases risks of juvenile arthritis, negatively impacting quality-of-life via reduced physical activity. Adolescent strength and proprioception recovery is highly variable. Current multifactorial movement assessments can yield inconsistent findings owing to poor specificity and sensitivity. A growing body of evidence indicates that analysis of within-individual movement variability provides insight into change within complex movement systems. Further, growth in consumer technologies capable of complex movement measurement represent an opportunity to identify clinically-feasible movement variability assessments.

Aim: Identify the application of movement variability as an objective tool to adolescent ACL rehabilitation.

Objectives:

1. Review within-individual movement variability analyses and relevant consumer technologies
2. Prospectively monitor rehabilitation to understand movement variability responses
3. Determine measurement sensitivity and evaluate potential technologies

Keywords:

Adolescent, Anterior Cruciate Ligament, rehabilitation, movement variability, safe return-to-play.

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