Joint Stabilization Surgery for Chronic Ankle Instability and Medial Ankle Osteoarthritis: A Critically Appraised Topic.

Clinical Scenario: Patients with chronic ankle instability (CAI) who require surgical intervention are often diagnosed with medial ankle osteoarthritis (OA). Lateral joint stabilization procedures are commonly performed among this patient population to restore bony alignment and improve cartilage loading patterns to increase patient-reported function and mitigate further degenerative changes. Focused Clinical Question: What is the available evidence to support joint stabilization procedures on patient-reported outcomes and progression of radiographic OA among patients with CAI who have medial ankle OA? Summary of Key Findings: An electronic search of relevant databases was performed to identify peer-reviewed articles examining preoperative and postoperative clinical outcomes and radiographic evidence of ankle OA. A total of 3 peer-reviewed articles were retrieved. All 3 articles employed a retrospective case series study design. All 3 articles demonstrated improved patient-reported outcomes at the final follow-up visit. Two articles demonstrated that between 11% and 27% of patients progressed in at least 1stage of radiographic ankle OA between the preoperative assessment and the final follow-up visit (40-56 mo). Clinical Bottom Line: Joint stabilization surgery for patients with CAI and medial ankle OA is associated with improved clinical outcomes and a low rate of worsening radiographic joint degeneration within the first 5 years. Strength of Recommendation: Consistent evidence exists across all 3 articles. However, this evidence is based on a low-quality study design. Therefore, there is a grade-C level of evidence to support joint stabilization for improving patient-reported and radiographic outcomes within the first 5 years after surgery for patients with CAI and medial ankle OA.

Knee Surgery Is Associated With Greater Odds of Knee Osteoarthritis Diagnosis.

CONTEXT: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) frequently develops following knee injury/surgery. It is accepted that knee injury/surgery precipitates OA with previous studies examining this link in terms of years after injury/surgery. However, postinjury OA prevalence has not been examined by decade of life; thereby, limiting our understanding of the age at which patients are diagnosed with posttraumatic knee OA. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the association between the knee injury and/or surgical history, present age, and history of receiving a diagnosis of knee OA. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Online survey. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3660 adults were recruited through ResearchMatch©. Of these, 1723 (47.1%) were included for analysis due to history of (1) knee surgery (SURG: n = 276; age = 53.8 [15.3] y; and body mass index [BMI] = 29.9 [8.0] kg/m2), (2) nonsurgical knee injury (INJ: n = 449; age = 46.0 [15.6] y; and BMI = 27.5 [6.9] kg/m2), or (3) no knee injury (CTRL: n = 998; age = 44.0 [25.2] y; and BMI = 26.9 [6.6] kg/m2). Respondents were subdivided by decade of life (20-29 through 70+). INTERVENTION: An electronic survey regarding knee injury history, treatment, and diagnosis of knee OA. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Binary logistic regression determined the association between knee surgical status and OA by decade of life. Participants with no histories of OA or lower-extremity injury were the referent categories. BMI was a covariate in all analyses. RESULTS: SURG respondents were more likely to report having knee OA than CTRL for all age groups (odds ratios: 11.43-53.03; P < .001). INJ respondents aged 30 years and older were more likely to have OA than CTRL (odds ratios: 2.99-14.22; P < .04). BMI influenced associations for respondents in their 50s (P = .001) and 60s (P < .001) only. CONCLUSIONS: INJ increased the odds of reporting a physician diagnosis of knee OA in adults as young as 30 to 39 years. Importantly, SURG yielded 3 to 4 times greater odds of being diagnosed with knee OA compared with INJ in adults as young as 20 to 29 years. Delaying disease onset in these young adults is imperative to optimize the quality of life long term after surgery.

Evaluation of Agreement Between Participant and Expert on Jump-Landing Characteristics During a 4-Week Intervention.

CONTEXT: Feedback is an important factor in interventions designed to reduce anterior cruciate ligament injury risk. Self-analysis feedback requires participants to self-critique their jump-landing mechanics; however, it is unknown if individuals can effectively self-analyze their own biomechanics and if this self-analysis agrees with observed biomechanical changes by an expert. OBJECTIVE: To determine agreement between an expert and participants on biomechanical errors committed during 3 of 12 sessions, which were part of an intervention to change jump-landing biomechanics in healthy females. DESIGN: Descriptive analysis. SETTING: Research laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Healthy recreationally active females with no history of lower-extremity fracture or surgery. INTERVENTIONS: Participants completed a 4-week, 12-session feedback intervention. Each intervention session lasted approximately 15 minutes and included asking participants to perform 6 sets of 6 jumps off a 30-cm-high box placed 50% of their height away from the target landing area. Participants performed self-analysis feedback and received expert feedback on 7 different jump-landing criteria following each set of jumps. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data were coded, and agreement between the expert and the participant was assessed using Cohen's unweighted kappa for sessions 1, 6, and 12. RESULTS: There was agreement between the expert and participants for 0/7 criteria for session 1, 3/7 criteria for session 6, and 4/7 criteria for session 12. CONCLUSIONS: Participants demonstrated some agreement with the expert when evaluating their jump-landing biomechanics. Self-analysis feedback may not replace what an expert can provide; both types of feedback may be better used in conjunction to produce significant biomechanical changes. Changes made by the participant may not translate into biomechanical changes during a real-life game or practice situation. Future research should continue to investigate effective interventions to reduce injury risk.

Longitudinal Evaluation of Stair Walking Biomechanics in Patients with ACL Injury.

PURPOSE: After anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction, abnormal biomechanics during daily tasks may have prominent and detrimental long-term consequences on knee joint health. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally evaluate hip and knee joint biomechanics during stair ascent and descent in patients with acute ACL injury and at return to activity after ACL reconstruction. METHODS: Twenty individuals with unilateral ACL injury (age, 20.9 ± 4.4 yr; height, 172.4 ± 7.5 cm; mass, 76.2 ± 12.2 kg) that were scheduled to undergo surgical reconstruction were compared with 20 healthy matched controls (age, 21.7 ± 3.7 yr; height, 173.7 ± 9.9 cm; mass, 76.1 ± 19.7 kg). Lower extremity biomechanics were recorded using three-dimensional motion analysis during stair ascent and descent at two testing sessions (before surgery and at approximately 6 months after surgery or when they were allowed to return to unrestricted physical activity). Time between sessions for healthy participants was matched on the basis of the ACL group. Peak sagittal and frontal plane knee and hip joint angles and moments, joint angles at initial contact, and joint excursions across stance phase were evaluated. RESULTS: The ACL-injured limb of patients experienced smaller knee extension moments than the uninjured limb and healthy controls during stair ascent and descent (P < 0.05) before and 6 months after ACL reconstruction. During stair ascent, ACL patients experienced more extended knee joint positions and less sagittal plane knee joint excursions, coupled with greater frontal plane hip joint excursions (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with ACL injury experience reductions in knee flexion angle and knee extension moments during stair walking. These alterations were observed both before and after reconstruction, suggesting that early gait retraining interventions may be beneficial in these patients.

Neural Excitability Alterations After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

CONTEXT: Neuromuscular dysfunction is common after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R). However, little is known about quadriceps spinal-reflex and descending corticomotor excitability after ACL-R. Understanding the effects of ACL-R on spinal-reflex and corticomotor excitability will help elucidate the origins of neuromuscular dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether spinal-reflex excitability and corticomotor excitability differed between the injured and uninjured limbs of patients with unilateral ACL-R and between these limbs and the matched limbs of healthy participants. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: A total of 28 patients with unilateral ACL-R (9 men, 19 women; age = 21.28 ± 3.79 years, height = 170.95 ± 10.04 cm, mass = 73.18 ± 18.02 kg, time after surgery = 48.10 ± 36.17 months) and 29 participants serving as healthy controls (9 men, 20 women; age = 21.55 ± 2.70 years, height = 170.59 ± 8.93 cm, mass = 71.89 ± 12.70 kg) volunteered. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Active motor thresholds (AMTs) were collected from the vastus medialis (VM) using transcranial magnetic stimulation. We evaluated VM spinal reflexes using the Hoffmann reflex normalized to maximal muscle responses (H : M ratio). Voluntary quadriceps activation was measured with the superimposed-burst technique and calculated using the central activation ratio (CAR). We also evaluated whether ACL-R patients with high or low voluntary activation had different outcomes. RESULTS: The AMT was higher in the injured than in the uninjured limb in the ACL-R group (t27 = 3.32, P = .003) and in the matched limb of the control group (t55 = 2.05, P = .04). The H : M ratio was bilaterally higher in the ACL-R than the control group (F1,55 = 5.17, P = .03). The quadriceps CAR was bilaterally lower in the ACL-R compared with the control group (F1,55 = 10.5, P = .002). The ACL-R group with low voluntary activation (CAR < 0.95) had higher AMT than the control group (P = .02), whereas the ACL-R group with high voluntary activation (CAR ≥ 0.95) demonstrated higher H : M ratios than the control group (P = .05). CONCLUSIONS: The higher VM AMT in the injured limbs of ACL-R patients suggested that corticomotor deficits were present after surgery. Higher bilateral H : M ratios in ACL-R patients may be a strategy to reflexively increase excitability to maintain voluntary activation.

Time to stabilization of anterior cruciate ligament-reconstructed versus healthy knees in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I female athletes.

CONTEXT: Jump landing is a common activity in collegiate activities, such as women's basketball, volleyball, and soccer, and is a common mechanism for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. It is important to better understand how athletes returning to competition after ACL reconstruction are able to maintain dynamic postural control during a jump landing. OBJECTIVE: To use time to stabilization (TTS) to measure differences in dynamic postural control during jump landing in ACL-reconstructed (ACLR) knees compared with healthy knees among National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I female athletes. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: University athletic training research laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-four Division I female basketball, volleyball, and soccer players volunteered and were assigned to the healthy control group (n  =  12) or the ACLR knee group (n  =  12). Participants with ACLR knees were matched to participants with healthy knees by sport and by similar age, height, and mass. INTERVENTION(S): At 1 session, participants performed a single-leg landing task for both limbs. They were instructed to stabilize as quickly as possible in a single-limb stance and remain as motionless as possible for 10 seconds. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The anterior-posterior TTS and medial-lateral TTS ground reaction force data were used to calculate resultant vector of the TTS (RVTTS) during a jump landing. A 1-way analysis of variance was used to determine group differences on RVTTS. The means and SDs from the participants' 10 trials in each leg were used for the analyses. RESULTS: The ACLR group (2.01 ± 0.15 seconds, 95% confidence interval [CI]  =  1.91, 2.10) took longer to stabilize than the control group (1.90 ± 0.07 seconds, 95% CI  =  1.86, 1.95) (F(1,22)  =  4.28, P  =  .05). This result was associated with a large effect size and a 95% CI that did not cross zero (Cohen d  =  1.0, 95% CI  =  0.91, 1.09). CONCLUSIONS: Although they were Division I female athletes at an average of 2.5 years after ACL reconstruction, participants with ACLR knees demonstrated dynamic postural-control deficits as evidenced by their difficulty in controlling ground reaction forces. This increased TTS measurement might contribute to the established literature reflecting differences in single-limb dynamic control. Clinicians might need to focus rehabilitation efforts on stabilization after jump landing. Further research is needed to determine if TTS is a contributing factor in future injury.