Summary

Meniscal injuries, regardless of the treatment performed, have an impact on the results of the 6-month composite test.

Abstract

Introduction

To allow a safe return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), patients need to be assessed using a 6-month composite test. Location and treatment of meniscus injuries can influence the results.

Methods

This was a retrospective single-center study of prospectively collected data, involving 498 patients who received a 6-month composite test. Isolated ACLR is compared to ACLR with medial meniscus injuries (MM), lateral meniscus injuries (LM) and bimeniscal injuries (BM). Composite test including the single leg squat (SLS), the Single Leg Landing (SLL), the single hop for distance (SHD), the triple hop for distance (THD) and the side hop test (Side HT), isokinetic tests and an assessment of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament - Return to Sport after Injury (ACL-RSI).

Results

Compared with isolated ACLR, MM injury was associated with a quadricipital deficit at a velocity of 240°/s (14% ± 14% vs. 18% ± 18%, p = 0.02), hamstring deficit at 30°/s (14% ± 18% vs. 18% ± 18%, p = 0.02) and an increase in the hamstring/quadricipital ratio at 240°/s (68% ± 27% vs. 80% ± 67% p = 0.02). Furthermore, ACLR + MM or ML injuries in the operated knee generated an increase in the dynamic valgus frequency detected by the SLS, respectively (40% ± 49% vs. 51% ± 50%, p = 0. 05) and (40% ± 49% vs. 54% ± 50%, p = 0.02). Meniscal repair and meniscectomies showed no differences.

Conclusion

These results show that meniscal injuries lead to muscle imbalance for MM injuries and impaired neuromuscular control for MM and LM injuries, and suggest that meniscal repairs should be preferred to meniscectomies to prevent osteoarthritis. Moreover, rehabilitation must be adapted to meniscus injuries.