The effectiveness of strengthening of hip extensors and ankle plantar flexors in early post anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction / Ahmed Mahmoud Gad Moussa ; Supervised Nadia Abdelazeem Fyaz , Karima Abdelaty Hassan , Mohammad Hasan Ahmad

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Musculoskeletal Disorders

Background: Impaired hip strength may underlie abnormal movement patterns, suggesting that diminished hip strength may increase the risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury and re-injury after ACL reconstruction. Aim of the study: To investigate the effect of strengthening of hip extensors and ankle plantar flexors in early post ACL reconstruction on knee effusion, knee pain, knee function, hip, knee and ankle muscles strength. Methods: The study was conducted on 30 male and female patients referred from the orthopedic surgeon with early post-operative ACL reconstruction by hamstring graft or patellar tendon graft after acute injuries, their age range from 18-40 years and were randomly assigned into two groups. Group A: Consisted of fifteen patients who had received open kinetic chain strengthening exercises for hip extensors and ankle plantar flexors in addition to the traditional accelerated program. Group B: Consisted of fifteen patients who had received the traditional accelerated program for 6 weeks (three sessions per week), using visual analogue scale to assess pain, effusion grading scale for to assess effusion, handheld dynamometer to assess muscle power, western ontario and McMaster universities score and Time Up and Go test (TUG) for functional assessment. Results: There was a significant difference between both groups for knee effusion, extensors torque between 3 and 6 weeks, WOMAC at 6 weeks, TUG at 6 weeks and plantar flexors force between 3 and 6 weeks, but there were no significant difference between both groups for, hip extensors force and TUG at 3 weeks

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