Participant outcomes
| All participants (n=80) | Evidence of ACL healing on 3-month MRI | P value* | ||
| ACLOAS grade 1 (n=40) | ACLOAS grades 2–3 (n=40) | |||
| Lysholm Scale score | 95 (89 to 100) | 98 (94 to 100) | 94 (85 to 94) | 0.01 |
| ACLQOL score (total) | 80 (69 to 93) | 89 (76 to 96) | 70 (64 to 82) | <0.001 |
| Symptoms/physical complaints | 94 (86 to 98) | 96 (92 to 100) | 86 (82 to 96) | <0.001 |
| Work-related concerns | 98 (90 to 100) | 100 (98 to 100) | 95 (79 to 100) | 0.004 |
| Rec and sport participation | 68 (54 to 91) | 82 (65 to 93) | 58 (42 to 78) | 0.001 |
| Lifestyle | 88 (74 to 98) | 94 (86 to 100) | 78 (63 to 93) | <0.001 |
| Social and emotional | 78 (58 to 94) | 90 (72 to 94) | 68 (52 to 80) | 0.003 |
| 3-month Lachman’s test | ||||
| No SSD | 64 (80) | 40 (100) | 24 (60) | <0.001 |
| End point with SSD | 15 (19) | 0 (0) | 15 (38) | |
| No endpoint | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | |
| 6-month pivot-shift test | ||||
| Normal | 44 (58) | 33 (85) | 11 (30) | <0.001 |
| Glide | 31 (41) | 6 (15) | 25 (68) | |
| Jerk | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | |
| Missing, n | 4 | 1 | 3 | |
| Return to pre-injury sport at 12 months | ||||
| Yes | 59 (79) | 36 (92) | 23 (62) | <0.001 |
| No | 16 (21) | 3 (8) | 13 (35) | |
| N/A (early cross-over to ACLR) | 5 | 1 | 4 | |
| Underwent arthroscopic surgery | 2 (3) | 1 (3) | 1 (3) | 1.0 |
| ACL re-rupture | 11 (14) | 4 (10) | 7 (18) | 0.17 |
For n=2 who did not have an MRI at 3 months, 6 month MRI results are reported (93% of participants had the same ACLOAS at 3 months and 6 months).
Missing data from n=1 for the Lysholm Scale and ACLQOL (ACLOAS grade 2).
Non-normally distributed data are presented as median (IQR).
*Mann-Whitney U Test (continuous variables) or Pearson’s χ2 test (categorical variables) compared outcomes between groups (ACLOAS grade 1 vs ACLOAS grades 2–3), the p value represents the probability of obtaining the observed results assuming that the null hypothesis is true.
ACLOAS, Anterior Cruciate Ligament OsteoArthritis Score; ACLR, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction; N/A, not applicable; RTS, return-to-sport; SSD, side to side difference.