Comparison between early and late weight bearing after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.

Background: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a strip of dense connective tissue that runs from the femur to the tibia with a relatively poor blood supply. It prevents the femoral condyles from rolling posteriorly. ACL is commonly injured in any knee trauma, ranging from a little sprain to a total rupture. The arthroscope is the gold standard approach for identifying ACL tears, which may be treated conservatively or surgically.

Aim of the study: To assess the efficiency of immediate and delayed weight bearing after arthroscopic ACL reconstruction.

Material and methods: Cohort longitudinal study carried through 6 years from 2017 to 2023 et al.-kindy Teaching, Ulamaa, and Almuktar hospitals 186 patients, the patients were divided randomly into 2 groups, group A (n = 93) with immediate (after 10 days) weight bearing and group B (n = 93) with delayed (after 1 month) weight bearing following ACL reconstruction. any patients with chondral lesions, aged less than 19 or more than 40 years, knee osteoarthritis, ligament damage, and deformity in lower extremities were excluded. Patients from both groups A and B had complete ACL tears and underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstruction follow-up for 6 months duration regarding stiffness, infection, giving up pain, swelling, and quadriceps muscle atrophy.

Results: In group A, there were 93 patients,70 male and 23 female, and meniscal injury was 89 patients. While in group B (93 patients) 57 male and 36 female, meniscal injury in group B was 91. There is a statistically significant difference regarding knee swelling. (80.6% in group A, and 10.8% in group B), and knee pain in which (79.6% in group A patients and only 7.5% in group B). There is no significant value between the two groups about the knee getting given up, infection, stiffness, and quadriceps muscle atrophy.

Conclusion: Delay weight bearing after ACL reconstruction makes the patients less prone to knee pain and effusion but more prone to quadriceps muscle atrophy.