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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy
Published in: Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy 3/2016

01-03-2016 | Knee

Prevention and rehabilitation of paediatric anterior cruciate ligament injuries

Authors: Håvard Moksnes, Hege Grindem

Published in: Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy | Issue 3/2016

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Abstract

Purpose

To review the current knowledge on anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention and ACL rehabilitation in individuals who have not yet reached musculoskeletal maturity.

Methods

This is a narrative review based on a targeted and systematic literature search for paediatric ACL injury risk factors, injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Results

The search strategies resulted in 119 hits on risk factor studies, 57 hits on prevention and 37 hits on rehabilitation. Modifiable risk factors for ACL injury are largely unknown in the paediatric population. ACL injury prevention using neuromuscular training is highly successful in the adolescent population, and existing injury prevention programmes are cost-effective. The efficacy of ACL injury prevention programmes in children is, however, investigated to a markedly lesser degree. Paediatric ACL injury rehabilitation is poorly described, although supervised active rehabilitation progressed through phases with functional milestones is generally encouraged.

Conclusion

Although limited, current evidence supports implementation of injury prevention programmes in female football players from the age of 12. Supervised active rehabilitation where progression is guided by functional milestones is also advocated. Future identification of modifiable risk factors is needed to design prevention programmes for younger children. There is a need for international multicentre studies on treatment algorithms and rehabilitation to increase knowledge on the short- and long-term outcomes following existing algorithms.

Study design

Narrative review, level III.
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Metadata
Title
Prevention and rehabilitation of paediatric anterior cruciate ligament injuries
Authors
Håvard Moksnes
Hege Grindem
Publication date
01-03-2016
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy / Issue 3/2016
Print ISSN: 0942-2056
Electronic ISSN: 1433-7347
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-015-3856-5

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