Abstract:
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a debilitating knee injury suffered by athletes. Surgical reconstruction is favoured; however, successful post-surgical outcomes do not align with returning to sport - specifically, fewer athletes return than are cleared to do so. Of concern when resuming sport, is the possibility of a secondary injury to the operated or opposite knee. Psychological factors are widely accepted as effectual in athletes’ decisions to return to sport, yet how they affect secondary injuries has not been explored. Gender can affect return to sport and may affect secondary injury occurrence. Previous research found psychological readiness to return to sport combined with performance in the single leg hop for distance test, the strongest predictors of return to sport in N = 40 athletes, post-ACL reconstruction(Müller, Krüger-Franke, Schmidt, & Rosemeyer, 2015). Informed by the latter, the current analysis explored how the single leg hop for distance test, psychological predictors (fear, cognitive appraisal and readiness to return to sport) and gender, affected return to sport and secondary injuries in 89 athletes, post-ACL reconstruction. Failing the aforementioned physical test significantly negatively affected return to sport, and high levels of psychological readiness to return, positively affected this outcome. Two novel significant findings -passing the single leg hop for distance test combined with high-level cognitive appraisal, positively affecting return to sport and strong psychological readiness to return to sport combined with male gender, negatively affecting secondary injuries are discussed. A modification to an existing sports model, is proposed along with the clinical relevance of the findings.
