Kinesiophobia After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a serious trauma with long-term consequences to the athlete. Return to sports at the pre-injury level after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is reported between 55 and 83%. Psychological and physiological factors can negatively affect patient recovery and increase reinjury rate after ACLR. In daily practice, surgeons and physiotherapists see athletes struggling to improve muscle strength and complaining of a lack of self-confidence and fear of reinjury during their progress to return to sports.

Kinesiophobia in ACLR patients is used to determine fear of pain, lack of self-confidence, and fear of reinjury. Patients with self-reported fear are less active, have decreased muscle function, and increased risk of a second ACL injury. Lower rates of return to sports are reported in athletes with kinesiophobia after ACLR. To measure kinesiophobia, the self-reported Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-17) test is widely used. The original TSK was developed and described by Miller et al. in 1991. In ACLR patients, the risk of developing fear was previously measured in a large systematic review of 2175 patients, in which 514 (24%) reported a psychological reason for not returning to sports.