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Clinical single-leg hop tests can help estimate risk of OA after ACL injury

By Jordana Bieze Foster

Performance on single-leg hop tests a few weeks after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury can predict the risk of radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA) five years later, according to research from the University of Delaware in Newark.

In 65 athletes involved in cutting or pivoting sports who had sustained an ACL injury a mean of 1.8 months earlier, investigators assessed performance on four single-leg hopping tests that can easily be administered by clinicians: single, triple, crossover, and 6-m timed. A mean of 5.7 years after the injury, the investigators identified radiographic evidence of knee OA in nine of the athletes.

The athletes with evidence of knee OA at follow-up had better performance than those with knee OA on all the baseline hopping tests; the differences were significant for the single and triple hop tests. The tests with the best diagnostic accuracy, however, were the triple hop test and the 6-m timed test.

The findings were presented in February at the annual Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association in Anaheim.

Source:

Wellsandt E, Axe M, Snyder-Mackler L. Single-legged hop tests as a screening tool for risk of posttraumatic osteoarthritis after anterior cruciate ligament injury. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2016;46(1): A56.

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