Preventing Osteoarthritis After an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: An Osteoarthritis Action Alliance Consensus Statement
Driban JB, Vincent HK, Trojian TH, Ambrose KR, Baez S, Beresic N, Berkoff DJ, Callahan LF, Cohen B, Franek M, Golightly YM, Harkey M, Kuenze CM, Minnig MC, Mobasheri A, Naylor A, Newman CB, Padua DA, Pietrosimone B, Pinto D, Root H, Salzler M, Schmitt LC, Snyder-Mackler L, Taylor JB, Thoma LM, Vincent KR, Wellsandt E, Williams M. J Athl Train. 2023 Mar 1;58(3):193-197. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-0255.22. PMID: 37130278.
The Osteoarthritis Action Alliance’s Secondary Prevention Task Group wrote a consensus statement to offer recommendations to help clinicians preserve someone’s long-term quality of life and wellness after an anterior cruciate ligament injury. “The group achieved consensus on 15 out of 16 recommendations that address patient education, exercise and rehabilitation, psychological skills training, graded-exposure therapy, cognitive-behavioral counseling (lacked consensus), outcomes to monitor, secondary injury prevention, system-level social support, leveraging technology, and coordinated care models.” The evidence review document (link below) offers the supporting literature for each recommendation, methods for the consensus process, and any dissenting opinions.
Webinar providing an overview of the consensus statement (30 minutes)
After reading this article, I believe that it is a great idea addressing how to prevent Osteoarthritis in patients who have suffered from an ACL injury. In clinical practice, I have witness two ACL rehabilitation. My preceptor would often emphasize how important it was to not only recover the ACL injury but to also focus on other factors that could prevent the athlete from preforming like they once did before their ACL injury. This article caught my attention because it’s safe to say that it is not normal for a 21 year old to recover from an ACL injury and suffer from osteoarthritis. Patients already feel discouraged after an ACL injury because of how much time it takes to heal, rehab, and RTP. I can only imagine how a patient may feel after being cleared to play and their knee is still not 100%. This article provides great data and information to give clinicians an opportunity to find better ways on how to decrease the chances of developing osteoarthritis in young athletes. This article also provided a chart of recommendations for secondary preventions of osteoarthritis after ACL injury, which could help clinicians on where to begin prior to developing their research. Overall, this article opened my mind to possible research studies regarding osteoarthritis and ACL injuries, that I would be interested in conducting myself in the future.