Muscle strength and functional performance tests as indicators of safe return to sports activity after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in track and field athletes

Abstract

Introduction: Despite modern surgical techniques that allow the knee to return to its normal position before the injury, returning to sports activities at a level similar to what the player was in is still a major challenge. Objective The purpose of this paper is to set numerical limits based on standardized tests for athletes to return to sports safely after surgery. Methodology: The sample’s study consisted of (20) injured athletes who underwent surgery for the anterior cruciate ligament and underwent rehabilitation at the specialized center for physical therapy and physical rehabilitation for a full year regularly and without interruption. Results: The current study showed through the results achieved that the difference in the means between the two legs (the injured leg with the healthy leg) is very small, in addition to the torsion coefficient being limited between (±1) and Levene's coefficient being greater than the significance level (0.05), which means that there are no significant differences between the two legs (injured and uninjured). Discussion: The results of the research should be contrasted with those of other research found in the literature. Conclusions: The researchers concluded that there is high reliability for the tests used when evaluating the injured after cruciate ligament reconstruction because the results obtained indicated that the injured limbs were similar to the healthy limbs, which enables coaches and sports rehabilitation specialists to rely on these tests as an indicator to judge the return of injured players to sports safely after surgery.