Investigating Knee Joint Position Sense in a Male Soccer Player After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Background: Anterior Cruciate Ligament) ACL (injury is the most prevalent knee ligament injury during exercise, with a frequency of 36.9 per 100000 individuals. The one characteristic of this injury is proprioception dysfunction. The current study investigated the knee proprioception in soccer players after ACL reconstruction. Methods: The study participants consisted of 20 elite male soccer players with an ACL injury who underwent ACL reconstruction. The knee joint position sense of the study subjects was measured by Isokinetic (Gymnex model) at 30º, 45°, and 60º between the operated and non-operated knee. Independent Samples t-test was used to compare the mean values of the measured variables (P≤0.05). Results: The obtained data suggested that the mean angle of the reconstruction test at 30° on the operated knee was significantly more than that of the non-operated knee (P=0.003). Furthermore, the mean value of a passive angle reproduction test was significantly more than that of the active angle test in the operated knee (P=0.001). There was no significant difference between the mean values of 45° angle repair results in the non-operated and operated knees (P=0.99). The difference between active and passive tests in the operated knee on 45o was significant; accordingly, the study subjects demonstrated higher mean values in the active test (P=0.02). Additionally, the half-value in angle reproduction in 60o in the operated knee was significantly less than that of the non-operated knee (P=0.01). Besides, there was no significant difference between the test results at this angle in the passive and active angle reproduction in the affected knee (P=0.22). Conclusion: The present study results revealed that the knee joint position sense of the operated knee was weaker than the non-operated knee, compared to the non-operated knee in elite soccer players with the ACL reconstruction.