Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb;35(2):511-520.
doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2018.07.033. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Abnormal Biomechanics at 6 Months Are Associated With Cartilage Degeneration at 3 Years After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Tomohiro Shimizu  1 , Michael A Samaan  2 , Matthew S Tanaka  2 , Valentina Pedoia  2 , Richard B Souza  3 , Xiaojuan Li  2 , C Benjamin Ma  4
Affiliations

Abnormal Biomechanics at 6 Months Are Associated With Cartilage Degeneration at 3 Years After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Tomohiro Shimizu et al. Arthroscopy. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the changes in landing biomechanics over a 3-year period and their correlation with cartilage degenerative changes in the medial tibiofemoral joint of the knee after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) using magnetic resonance T1ρ mapping.

Methods: Thirty-one anterior cruciate ligament-injured patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the injured knee before ACLR and 3 years after ACLR, as well as biomechanical analysis of a drop-landing task at 6 months and 3 years after ACLR. Sixteen healthy individuals were recruited and underwent knee magnetic resonance imaging and biomechanical assessment during a drop-landing task. T1ρ cartilage relaxation times were calculated for the medial femur and tibia.

Results: ACLR patients exhibited increased peak vertical ground reaction force (VGRF), VGRF impulse, peak knee flexion moment (KFM), and KFM impulse from 6 months to 3 years (P < .001 for each). Although the ACLR knees showed significantly lower peak VGRF and KFM at 6 months (P < .001 for both) when compared with the controls, there were no significant differences at 3 years. At 3 years, ACLR patients showed higher T1ρ values over the medial femur (P < .001) and tibia (P = .012) when compared with their preoperative values and with healthy control values. Within the ACLR group, side-to-side differences in peak VGRF and sagittal knee biomechanics at 6 months were associated with increased T1ρ values from baseline to 3 years.

Conclusions: The results of this longitudinal study show that landing biomechanics are altered after ACLR but biomechanical abnormalities tend to recover at 3 years after ACLR. Differences in lower-extremity mechanics during a landing task at 6 months may be associated with cartilage degeneration at 3 years after anterior cruciate ligament injury and reconstruction.

Level of evidence: Level II, prospective trial.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Flow diagram of study subjects.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Drop landing.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
The medial tibiofemoral joint was divided into various sub-compartments within the medial femoral condyle (MF) and medial tibia (MT) for T1ρ cartilage mapping. The letters a, c and p indicate anterior, central and posterior, respectively.
Figure 4:
Figure 4:
Correlations between side to side differences (SSD) of biomechanics at six months and changes of T1ρ relaxation time from baseline to three years after ACLR. (A) Scatter plot of SSD of peak VGRF and change of T1ρ relaxation time of global MT. (B) Scatter plot of SSD of peak KFM and change of T1ρ relaxation time of cMFc. (C) Scatter plot of SSD of peak KFA and change of T1ρ relaxation time of global MF.
Figure 5:
Figure 5:
Correlations between changes of biomechanics from six months to three years and changes of T1ρ relaxation time from baseline to three years after ACLR. (A) Scatter plot of change of peak VGRF and change of T1ρ relaxation time of global MF. (B) Scatter plot of change of peak KFM and change of T1ρ relaxation time of cMT. (C) Scatter plot of change of peak KFA and change of T1ρ relaxation time of cMFc.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Lohmander LS, Ostenberg A, Englund M, Roos H. High prevalence of knee osteoarthritis, pain, and functional limitations in female soccer players twelve years after anterior cruciate ligament injury. Arthritis Rheum. 2004;50:3145–3152. - PubMed
    1. Lohmander LS, Englund PM, Dahl LL, Roos EM. The long-term consequence of anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus injuries: osteoarthritis. Am J Sports Med. 2007;35:1756–1769. - PubMed
    1. Li RT, Lorenz S, Xu Y, Harner CD, Fu FH, Irrgang JJ. Predictors of radiographic knee osteoarthritis after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39:2595–2603. - PubMed
    1. Oiestad BE, Engebretsen L, Storheim K, Risberg MA. Knee osteoarthritis after anterior cruciate ligament injury: a systematic review. Am J Sports Med. 2009;37:1434–1443. - PubMed
    1. Chu CR, Beynnon BD, Buckwalter JA, et al. Closing the gap between bench and bedside research for early arthritis therapies (EARTH): report from the AOSSM/NIH U-13 Post-Joint Injury Osteoarthritis Conference II. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39:1569–1578. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms