ACL Rehab Done Right: Why One-on-One PT is Essential for Recovery
You’ve done it - that one fated injury you hear about and saw several of your teammates succumb to in highschool, as well as another handful of your skiing buddies in the years thereafter. Maybe you always knew it could happen, but that doesn’t stop you from agonizing over what your future looks like from this point. All you can think about is when, how, and to what degree you will be able to return to the things you loved to do before you tore your ACL. The answer? Virtually limitless, but it all lies in the quality and the specificity of your rehabilitation and recovery.
With upwards of 200,000 ACL tears in the United States each year, post-operative ACL repair patients are a commonality in any orthopedic physical therapy clinic. Unfortunately, as traditional clinics are met with this volume as well as with low reimbursement rates from insurances, patients are often double-booked and dosed with a short list of generic interventions applied in tangent with the athlete next to you. While these are generally “safe” in the clinic, they are often underwhelming, target limited facets of rehab, and are painfully non-specific to the athlete’s unique goals and needs.
Individualizing your treatment plan after an ACL repair is crucial to your success. With the rates of re-tear being anywhere from 9-25% in athletes following ACL reconstruction, there is little room for your rehabilitation to leave any gaps in your care. What may be even worse, is the research that highlights that as many as 50% of those with ACL reconstruction never return to pre-tear levels of activity 7 years after their surgery. Motor control, strict strength, agility, power, coordination, endurance, and even a patient’s fear and avoidance are all components of rehab that matter and should be measured. Good ACL rehab is not only data-driven, but minds the psychological burden of a traumatic injury. We as physical therapists have the tools to do this, but the issue is whether your therapist has the time and resources to ensure you have the best chance of success. At Pure Performance Rehab, we are lucky to say that we do.
At Pure, we make a habit of getting to know and understand your goals, your values, and your inhibitions. Our therapists have undergone years of specialized training in orthopedics to deliver the most current and well-rounded rehab tailored to your needs. We consider the whole athlete, and with that, we have a robust set of criteria we challenge all of our athletes to meet in their recovery:
Single leg hop test
Triple Hop Test, including crossover
Y Excursion test
6 Meter Timed Hop test
Single Leg Sit to Stand test
Lower limb dynamometry, with emphasis on quadriceps strength
Size and strength differential <10% affected:unaffected limb
ACL-RSI scale at 85%
Adaptation of therapy to meet loads and demands of chosen activity or level of activity
Gradual re-entry-to-sport planning
Our therapists are excited to meet you at your level, and ensure you don’t lose fitness while you make your comeback. The road to recovery after repairing an ACL can be scary, but we’re here to support and guide you from start to finish.
Schedule a visit with us or inquire about rehab packages by clicking the “Contact” tab above. We can’t wait to help!
Paterno MV. Incidence and Predictors of Second Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury After Primary Reconstruction and Return to Sport. J Athl Train. 2015 Oct;50(10):1097-9. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-50.10.07. PMID: 26509777; PMCID: PMC4641548.
Ardern CL, Taylor NF, Feller JA, Webster KE. Return-to-sport outcomes at 2 to 7 years after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery. Am J Sports Med. 2012 Jan;40(1):41-8. doi: 10.1177/0363546511422999. Epub 2011 Sep 23. PMID: 21946441.
Recurrent Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tears in the National Football League: A Case-Control Study - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Rate-of-subsequent-ACL-injury-to-either-knee-after-previous-ACL-reconstruction-ACL_fig1_338153470 [accessed 20 May 2025]
