Association Between Psychological Readiness, Patient Reported Outcomes and Return to Sports Following Primary Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Readiness Outcomes Affecting Return-to-Sport (ROAR)

OBJECTIVES: Successful return-to-sport (RTS) following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction can be affected by several variables, including a patient’s physical and psychological states throughout the rehabilitation process. Several studies have reported patients with increased fear-of-reinjury may be at risk for secondary injury following ACL reconstruction. The primary objective was to compare the relationship between ACL-RSI, Pedi-IKDC, Pedi-FABS, and PROMIS-Psychological Stress Experiences (PSE) across various age groups and graft types between patients undergoing primary ACL reconstruction at the 6 month post-operative visit. Secondary outcome was timing of RTS clearance. METHODS: Patients prospectively enrolled were 8-30 years old who underwent primary ACL reconstruction at a large pediatric academic sports medicine center from August 2018 until February 2019. They were evaluated at their 6 month follow-up appointment and underwent functional RTS testing. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on their age: Pre-Adolescent (ages 8-14), Adolescent (ages 15-18), and Adult (ages >18) to reflect their psychological/emotional maturity. Demographic information, time to RTS clearance, and functional testing measurements were collected. Analysis included one-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: A total of 100 patients were included in the study (57 males, 43 females; mean age, 17.3±2.9 years). RTS functional testing was performed at a mean of 6.3±0.7 months after primary ACL reconstruction. The 3 age groups consisted of Pre-Adolescent (n=13), Adolescent (n=62), and Adult (n=25). The graft types were HS (n=79), BTB (n=14), ITB (n=7). Mean ACL-RSI scores were significantly different among age groups (Pre-Adolescent 80.3±10.6, Adolescent 60.4±23.3, Adult 54.3±21.3; p=0.003) and graft type (HS 61.2±22.0, BTB 52.9±26.4, ITB 82.1±9.7; p=0.019). Scores were significantly different among the 3 age groups for IKDC (Pre-Adolescent 85.4±12.1, Adolescent 77.5±13.8, Adult 61.0±8.4; p<0.001). Scores were not significantly different among the three age groups for Pedi-FABS (Pre-Adolescent 24.9±5.4, Adolescent 23.6±8.1, Adult 20.6±9.2; p=0.212). The mean PROMIS-PSE t-scores were significantly different among the age groups (Pre-Adolescent 45.8±8.6, Adolescent 52.0±7.2, Adult 53.8±8.1; p=0.009) and graft type (HS 52.4±7.7, BTB 52.7±6.6, ITB 40.9±4.9; p<0.001). There were no significant differences for average timing of RTS clearance among the 3 age groups (Pre-Adolescent 8.5±1.5 months, Adolescent 8.0±1.3 months, Adult 8.1±1.2 months; p=0.618). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that psychological profiles and subjective perceptions of knee function following ACL reconstruction may vary in young patients of different ages. Pre-adolescent patients had better scores on all patient reported outcomes compared to adolescent and adult patients. Age-related differences in patient reported outcomes should be considered when evaluating young athletes.