Quantifying the Benefits of Supervised vs. Unsupervised Pre-habilitation for Patients With Acute ACL Tears

Although the success of physical therapy following surgery has been well-documented and validated in patients undergoing Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction (ACLR) procedures, more recent studies have demonstrated that patient outcomes are the most favorable when surgery is delayed approximately 4 weeks until after the patient has completed a preoperative physical therapy program, or "pre-habilitation." The ultimate goal of pre-habilitation is to regain full range of motion in the knee and reach approximately 80% of pre-injury quadricep strength. However, extra physical therapy can stress both time and resources. Thus, we propose a home-based, self-guided pre-habilitation program. We hypothesize that patients participating in self-guided pre-habilitation will experience the same benefits as patients in a traditional office-based physical therapy program.