( opvright I 995 by i/u Jo,rnaI (If Bo,i us! Joint.S,rtrv. In()rpora(e(I 1166 THE JOURNAL OF BONE ANt) JOINT SURGERY Strength of the Quadriceps Femoris Muscle and Functional Recovery after Reconstruction of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament A PROSPEIIVE, RA

ABSTRACT: Immediately after reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament, 110 patients were randomly assigned to treatment with high-intensity neuromuscular electrical stimulation (thirty-one patients), high-level vo-litional exercise (thirty-four patients), low-intensity neu-romuscular electrical stimulation (twenty-five patients), or combined high and low-intensity neuromuscular elec-trical stimulation (twenty patients). All freatment was performed isomefrically with the knee in 65 degrees of flexion. All of the patients participated in an intensive program of closed-kinetic-chain exercise. After four weeks of treatment, the sfrength of the quadriceps fem-oris muscle and the kinematics of the knee during stance phase were measured. Quadriceps strength averaged 70 per cent or more of the strength on the uninvolved sid