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Hip external rotation strength predicts hop performance after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

Quadriceps strength and single-leg hop performance are commonly evaluated prior to return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). However, few studies have documented potential hip strength deficits after ACLR, or ascertained the relative contribution of quadriceps and hip strength to hop performance.

Methods

Patients cleared for return to sports drills after ACLR were compared to a control group. Participants’ peak isometric knee extension, hip abduction, hip extension, and hip external rotation (HER) strength were measured. Participants also performed single-leg hops, timed hops, triple hops, and crossover hops. Between-limb comparisons for the ACLR to control limb and the non-operative limb were made using independent two-sample and paired sample t tests. Pearson’s correlations and stepwise multiple linear regression were used to determine the relationships and predictive ability of limb strength, graft type, sex, and limb dominance to hop performance.

Results

Sixty-five subjects, 20 ACLR [11F, age 22.8 (15–45) years, 8.3 ± 2 months post-op, mass 70.47 ± 12.95 kg, height 1.71 ± 0.08 m, Tegner 5.5 (3–9)] and 45 controls [22F, age 25.8 (15–45) years, mass 74.0 ± 15.2 kg, height 1.74 ± 0.1 m, Tegner 6 (3–7)], were tested. Knee extension (4.4 ± 1.5 vs 5.4 ± 1.8 N/kg, p = 0.02), HER (1.4 ± 0.4 vs 1.7 ± 0.5 N/kg, p = 0.04), single-leg hop (146 ± 37 vs 182 ± 38% limb length, p < 0.01), triple hop (417 ± 106 vs 519 ± 102% limb length, p < 0.01), timed hop (3.3 ± 2.0 vs 2.3 ± 0.6 s, p < 0.01), and crossover hop (364 ± 107 vs 446 ± 123% limb length, p = 0.01) were significantly impaired in the operative versus control subject limbs. Similar deficits existed between the operative and non-operative limbs. Knee extension and HER strength were significantly correlated with each of the hop tests, but only HER significantly predicted hop performance.

Conclusions

After ACLR, patients have persistent HER strength, knee extension strength, and hop test deficits in the operative limb compared to the control and non-operative limbs, even after starting sport-specific drills. Importantly, HER strength independently predicted hop performance. Based on these findings, to resolve between-limb deficits in strength and hop performance clinicians should include HER strengthening exercises in post-operative rehabilitation.

Level of evidence

Prognostic Study, Level II.

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Abbreviations

ACLR:

Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

HER:

Hip external rotation

RTS:

Return to sport

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40536-0200, USA

    Paul W. Kline & Brian Noehren

  2. Center for Sports Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, 15203, USA

    Jeremy Burnham & Brian Noehren

  3. Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40536-0200, USA

    Michael Yonz, Darren Johnson & Mary Lloyd Ireland

  4. Division of Physical Therapy, University of Kentucky, 900 S Limestone, Room 204D, Lexington, KY, 40536-0200, USA

    Brian Noehren

Authors
  1. Paul W. Kline
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  2. Jeremy Burnham
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  4. Darren Johnson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian Noehren.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (grant number K23AR062069) and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (grant number TL1TR00015).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kline, P.W., Burnham, J., Yonz, M. et al. Hip external rotation strength predicts hop performance after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 26, 1137–1144 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-017-4534-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-017-4534-6

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