When context creates uncertainty: experiences of patients who choose rehabilitation as a treatment after an ACL injury

Up to 50% of patients who suffer an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury receive or opt for rehabilitation alone as initial treatment in Scandinavia. Knowledge of whether patients treated with rehabilitation alone after ACL injury are satisfied is lacking. This study aimed to explore the experiences of patients treated with rehabilitation alone after an ACL injury. Fourteen patients (35.9 (19–56) years old) who suffered an ACL injury treated with rehabilitation alone, a mean of 32 months before inclusion, were interviewed. The interview transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The experiences of patients treated with rehabilitation after an ACL injury were summarised in one theme: ‘Is the grass greener on the other side? Context characterised by uncertainty’, supported by three main categories and nine subcategories. Uncertainty permeated the context of all levels of knee-related life following ACL injury: (1) in the past, patients felt uncertainty regarding treatment choices, (2) in the present, patients felt uncertainty regarding their physical capacity and knee self-efficacy, and (3) for the future, patients felt uncertainty regarding what might happen. With few exceptions, patients’ experiences after an ACL injury treated with rehabilitation alone are characterised by uncertainty regarding their physical function, psychological impairments and possible future limitation of knee function. Uncertainty is experienced by patients in the past, the present and the future. Patients experience the knee as a symptomatic obstacle and need to adapt the physical activity to the presence of symptoms.