Loading...
Case Study: The Effects of Unilateral Cross Training Via Additional Weight Load on Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters Pre and Post Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
Shelton, Eric
Shelton, Eric
Citations
Altmetric:
Soloist
Composer
Publisher
Date
2025-05-19
Additional date(s)
Abstract
Previous literature has discovered that many ACLR patients are at a high risk of undergoing bone deformation in their surgically repaired knee within five years of their initial surgery. It is thought to be the effect of the current standard of care for ACLR rehabilitation's lack of focus on long term knee health which leads to a decrease in patient knee stability after their recovery. The decrease in knee stability causes patients to decrease their weight load on that knee, this is the root cause of their bone deformation. An idea about how adding additional weight to a patient while walking was had, data was collected, and a case study was formed to analyze the spatiotemporal parameters of step width, step length of the surgically affected leg, and step time for each of the four participants. The data consisted of motion tracked data that was then quantified into the spatiotemporal parameters of step width, step length, and step time. Pre-ACLR participant data was compared to post-ACLR data to determine how additional weight load and unilateral quadricep strengthening affected those specific spatiotemporal parameters. Participants underwent the same walking trial on a treadmill under a non-weighted and weighted condition before receiving ACLR surgery and three months after their surgery. In between the two tests, three experimental participants underwent the current standard of care for ACLR plus twenty-four sessions of single leg quadricep training on their healthy leg. The one control participant just underwent the current standard of ACLR rehabilitation. Each of the four participants responded to manipulated variables of weight and rehabilitation protocol differently. Each participant improved or failed to improve from pre to post-ACLR in different patterns of step width, step length, and step time. Since a trend between participant variable improvement was unable to be determined, the case study is inconclusive. The inconclusive findings might be attributed to the limitations of the actual experiment that include the number of participants involved and the length of time that the study took place over. Further research should consider looking at a longitudinal study that assesses the spatiotemporal parameters of gait over the full length of a participant's ACLR rehabilitation process and follow up within five years of the participant?s surgery to understand how different rehabilitation protocols and weight load can affect long-term health knee health.