Accelerated Rehab after ACL Surgery Includes Aquatic Therapy

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Bridey-Lee Momberg, Quinette Louw, Lynette Crous. Accelerated hydrotherapy and land-based rehabilitation in soccer players after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction:a series of three single subject case studies. SAJSM. 2008; 20(4): 109-114.

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Objective. To investigate the effectiveness of accelerated rehabilitation and accelerated hydrotherapy after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in male athletes participating in soccer.

Design. A non-concurrent single subject, multiple baseline design (ABA design) was conducted over 10 weeks. A series of three N=1 studies was conducted to assess the effect of an accelerated hydrotherapy programme on pain, function, and range of motion.
Setting. The study was conducted at a private physiotherapy practice in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Interventions. The land rehabilitation programme was a homebased programme supervised every week by the physiotherapist. The accelerated hydrotherapy consisted of a 6-week programme, and participants attended two treatment sessions of accelerated  hydrotherapy per week each of 30 minutes' duration.

Main outcome measures. The knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome scale (KOOS) as a subjective measure of pain, function and quality of life; the goniometer to measure active knee ROM and the 6-minute walking test (6MWT) as an objective measure of function.

Results. All three patients demonstrated good improvement during the treatment phase for the KOOS scale and progressed well

CORESPONDENCE:
Professor Quinette Louw
Division of Physiotherapy
Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Stellenbosch University
PO Box 19063
Tygerberg 7505
Republic of South Africa
Tel: +27(021) 938 - 9301
Fax: +27(021) 931-1252
E-mail: qalouw@sun.ac.za
Bridey-Lee Momberg (BSc, MSc Physiotherapy (OMT))
Quinette Louw (BSc, MASP, PhD)
Lynette Crous (BSc, MSc)
Division of Physiotherapy, University of Stellenbosch