Landing Biomechanics in Patients 2 Years After Augmented ACL Repair and 2 Years After Hamstring Autograft ACL...

InternalBrace-augmented anterior cruciate ligament repair (ACL-IB) is believed to restore natural knee mechanics. However, there is a dearth of data on in vivo leg biomechanics after ACL-IB and comparability with gold standard surgery.

To (1) investigate differences in sagittal and frontal landing biomechanics of the legs in patients after ACL-IB (Comparison I) and after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR; Comparison II), compare the involved legs with controls (Comparison III), and (2) identify leg differences that were greater than those typically observed in controls.

Cross-sectional study, Level of Evidence 3.

A total of 29 patients who had ACL-IB, 27 sex- and age-matched patients who had ACLR, and 29 matched controls were asked to perform single-leg hops (SLH) for maximum forward distance 2 years postoperatively, assessed by marker-based motion analysis. Sagittal (hip, knee, and ankle) and frontal (hip and knee) plane angles and peak moments, joint work contribution, and peak vertical ground-reaction force and loading rates during landing were calculated. Differences between the involved and uninvolved legs in patients (paired t tests) and between the involved legs in patients and the nondominant legs in controls (1-way analysis of variance) were analyzed. To determine whether these differences exceeded the typical variation seen in the control legs, we compared the overlap of the 95% CIs of the differences with the 95% CIs of the within-control differences (the nondominant versus dominant leg).

Patients who underwent ACL-IB (ACL-IB group) and ACLR (ACLR group) showed significant differences in their legs' SLH landing biomechanics. Only leg differences in the ACL-IB group were greater than those in in the control group (no overlap): smaller peak knee flexion angle (leg difference: -8.3° [95% CI, -13 to -3.7]; d = -0.85; P = .001; controls [95% CI, -1.7 to 4.2]) and lower peak knee flexion moment (-0.60 Nm/kg [95% CI, -0.72 to -0.31]; d = -0.72; P < .001; controls [95% CI, -0.06 to 0.35]) in the involved compared with the uninvolved leg; and lower peak knee flexion moment in the involved leg compared with control legs (-0.50 Nm/kg [95% CI, -1 to -0.07]; d = -0.71; P = .020).

Persistent differences in SLH landing biomechanics 2 years after ACL surgery suggest that ACL ruptures cause alterations that cannot be restored by augmented repair or reconstruction alone. The greater differences between the legs in the ACL-IB group than those typically seen within controls highlight the need for further research to understand the full potential or limitation of ACL preservation techniques.