Return to Basketball and Soccer After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Competitive School-Aged Athletes

Background: Little is known about the return to sports after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and whether sex differences exist regarding the level and timing at which athletes return. Hypotheses: Compared to school-aged girls, boys return to full sports earlier and at a higher frequency after surgery (1). Athletes who return to sports earlier will not have a higher incidence of subsequent injury to either knee after surgery (2). Study Design: Cohort. Methods: The patient population comprised 413 consecutive school-aged athletes who were injured while competing in basketball or soccer. Patients were enrolled prospectively, and activity levels were obtained through follow-up visits, sur-veys, phone calls, and e-mail. Results: Follow-up was obtained for 402 patients (basketball: 58 boys, 242 girls; soccer: 25 boys, 77 girls). Eighty-seven per-cent of girls and boys returned to high school basketball after surgery: the mean time to return to full participation in basket-ball was 5.2 ± 2.1 months for girls and 5.3 ± 2.2 months for boys (P =.92). Similarly, 93 % of girls and 80 % of boys returned to compete in high school soccer after surgery (P =.13); the mean time to return to full participation in soccer was 5.1 ± 1.9 months for girls and 5.1 ± 2.0 for boys (P = 1.00). About 20 % of athletes went on to compete in their sport in college. The time of return to sports was not a statistically significant factor for the incidence of subsequent anterior cruciate ligament injury. Conclusion: Of 402 athletes competing in basketball and soccer, women and men returned at the same rate and sam