Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction with or without Bracing

Background: Rupture of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) would cause instability and disability and if left untreated. Reconstruction is performed by different techniques including patellar bone graft, as the strongest device. Application of brace after ACL reconstructions has revealed doubtful results. Methods: One hundred ACL ruptured patients randomized into two groups were reconstructed with autogenous bone-patellar tendon-bone grafts followed for 12 months. Of these, only 50 patients used braces after operation. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between two groups in range of motions, complications and quadriceps atrophy after 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Patients with no braces returned to their job and had better work performance with less patellofemoral pain at the follow up visits (P<0.05). Conclusion The results of the present study are in favor of not using braces after ACL reconstruction with bone-patellar tendon-bone graft.Iran J Med Sci 2006; 31(3): 151-155. Keywords ● BPB graft ● ACL ● Brace ● range of motion ● quadriceps atrophy