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Old 08-03-2010, 11:50 PM   #1
Janet Rosen
 
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Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
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Research on ACL outcomes

I just now read a new column on NY Times website about a two yr study in Sweden involving 121 healthy, active, athletic young adults who had ACL injuries.Original study was published late July in New England Journal of Medicine.

Half had PT followed by ACL reconstruction. Half had PT alone.
To quote the article by Tara Parker-Pope:
"At the end of the two years, both groups showed considerable improvement. The scores for the surgically repaired knees had risen by 39.2 points. The scores for the more conservatively treated knees also had risen, by 39.4 points. In other words, the outcomes for the two groups were virtually identical."

Another, earlier study based on 10 years observation, published last yr in British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed (again, quoting Parker-Pope) that "The surgically repaired knees were notably more stable. But they weren't fundamentally healthier. The surgically reconstructed knees and the conservatively treated joints experienced similar (and high) levels of early-onset knee arthritis, a common occurrence after an A.C.L. tear. The treatments were almost identical, too, in terms of whether the athletes could return to sports and whether they reported subsequent knee problems."

Janet Rosen
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