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Recent Advances in the Prevention and Rehabilitation of ACL Injuries—2nd Edition

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomedical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 415

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Interests: anatomical and functional asymmetries of the musculoskeletal system; postural control assessment, ; gait analysis; rehabilitation of musculoskeletal dysfunctions; prevention of sports injuries
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most commonly injured knee ligaments in the athletic population. The treatment of this injury very often requires the implementation of appropriate surgical interventions and long-term physical rehabilitation programs, which are necessary to safely return to the pre-injury level of activity. However, despite improvements in the management of ACL injuries, many athletes worldwide are still injured each year, making it more imperative than ever to prevent the onset of the injury and minimize—if not eliminate—the adverse effects of re-injury.

The anatomy of the athlete’s musculoskeletal system related to lower-limb joint alignment, skeletal asymmetries or deviations, non-fatigued or fatigue-induced functional imbalances, postural control, and fitness deficits are only some of the intrinsic factors that have been under continuous research in recent years.

Research related to the biomechanical analysis of injury is also ongoing and undertaken by many investigators to identify the sports-related factors contributing to its provocation during the execution of athletic movements, such as cuts, jumps, and landings.

Clinical therapists continue to pursue effective and balanced rehabilitation programs with strength training and neuromuscular exercises that will increase athletes’ compliance while simultaneously seeking methods and tests that will optimally assess athletes’ readiness before returning to sports activities.

Furthermore, wearable technology, the use of fMRI to identify brain mechanisms underlying ACL injury risk and sports-related movements, and the application of virtual reality (VR) as well as augmented reality (AR) to identify deficits and enhance neuromuscular training consistently gain ground in individualized ACL injury prevention and rehabilitation.

This Special Issue addresses all working in these areas and welcomes original papers, review articles, and meta-analyses that provide insight into "Recent Advances in the Prevention and Rehabilitation of ACL Injuries—2nd Edition". We are looking forward to your contributions.

Dr. Dimitris G. Mandalidis
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • anatomic variations
  • musculoskeletal assessment
  • skeletal asymmetries
  • tibial torsion
  • valgus knee
  • medial knee displacement
  • foot overpronation
  • lower limb joints alignment/misalignment
  • postural control
  • fatigue-induced functional imbalances
  • injury-related biomechanics
  • cutting movements
  • jumping and landing
  • strength exercises/training
  • unsupervised/supervised preventive/rehabilitative programs
  • adherence/compliance with intervention programs
  • post-rehabilitation assessment
  • neuromuscular training
  • wearable technology
  • inertial sensors
  • injury-related brain function
  • virtual and/or augmented reality
  • augmented neuromuscular training
  • personalized rehabilitation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 2433 KiB  
Article
Evaluating the Functionality of a Field-Based Test Battery for the Identification of Risk for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: An Exploratory Factor Analysis
by Charis Tsarbou, Nikolaos I. Liveris, Sofia A. Xergia, George Papageorgiou, Vasileios Sideris, Giannis Giakas and Elias Tsepis
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(1), 167; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15010167 - 28 Dec 2024
Viewed by 323
Abstract
(1) Background: A parsimonious test battery is deemed necessary to efficiently assess the functional performance of athletes avoiding redundant measurements. This study investigates the interrelationships between elements of an experimental field-based test battery during pre-season assessment (PA), with the purpose of enhancing comprehension [...] Read more.
(1) Background: A parsimonious test battery is deemed necessary to efficiently assess the functional performance of athletes avoiding redundant measurements. This study investigates the interrelationships between elements of an experimental field-based test battery during pre-season assessment (PA), with the purpose of enhancing comprehension of the underlying structure of the assessed variables and suggesting guidelines for the tests incorporated in a PA. (2) Methods: Sixty-two professional football athletes performed a PA, including isometric muscle strength, triple hop and core stability tests, the LESS, and evaluation of landing performance through kinetic and electromyographic data. (3) Results: For the dominant lower limb, the factor analysis resulted in six factors, explaining 79.04% of the variance including core stability, ground reaction forces, dynamic balance, hamstrings strength, quadriceps–hamstring EMG ratio, and quadriceps performance. For the non-dominant lower limb, factor analysis resulted in five factors, explaining 76.60% of the variance including core stability, dynamic balance, ground reaction force, quadriceps–hamstring EMG ratio, and quadriceps–abductors strength. The LESS was loaded with various factors. (4) Conclusions: Given the need for efficient field-based assessments that can be repeated throughout the season without sacrificing data quality, we suggest incorporating the LESS, the prone bridge test, and force-plate-based landing performance evaluation as key elements of the PA. Full article
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