Clinical trial NCT06206200: The Effects of Cognitive Dual-Tasking in Later Stages of Rehabilitation After ACL Reconstruction
Official title: The Effects of Cognitive Dual-Tasking in Later Stages of Rehabilitation After ACL Reconstruction
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
Athrogenic Muscle Responses
ACL Injury
Lead sponsor: University Ghent
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Research Foundation Flanders
First posted: 2024-01-16
Enrollment: 80
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 40
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are common in sports and often require a long and challenging rehabilitation process. Athletes who sustain these injuries typically engage in pivoting and cutting sports, where these motor tasks must be performed simultaneously with cognitive tasks such as decision-making and keeping an eye on the opponent. Directing attention to both cognitive and motor tasks leads to cognitive-motor interference, which is associated with movement patterns that increase the risk of ACL (re)injury.

Therefore, it is crucial that before returning to such demanding sports after ACL reconstruction, athletes sufficiently develop and automate safe yet efficient motor skills to free up attentional capacity for decision-making, thereby reducing the risk of suboptimal movement patterns and reinjury.

However, current rehabilitation programs often primarily focus on the motor component in a single-task manner, giving insufficient attention to the cognitive component that is inseparable from sports.

This randomized controlled trial aims to investigate the effects of implementing motor-cognitive dual tasks in the end phase rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction on muscle function, functional outcomes, and patient-reported outcomes.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18-40 years old.
* Having suffered an ACL rupture.
* Undergoing a surgical ACL reconstruction in the AZ Delta hospital in Roeselare (Campus Brugsesteenweg).

Exclusion Criteria:

* Revision ACL reconstruction.
* Other severe injuries to the lower limbs within the past year.
* Muscle or neurological disorders affecting lower limb functioning.
* Fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Psychological readiness to return to sport
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Quadriceps and hamstrings activity / cocontraction during hop tasks
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Patient reported knee function
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Jumping height in hop tests
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Activity level
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Voluntary quadriceps activation
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Quadriceps and hamstrings strength
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Kinesiophobia
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Subjective knee stability
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: The amount of pain that the subjects experience.
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
Other outcomes:
measure: Duration of ground contact in hop tests
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Performance in the T-agility test
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Strength endurance during timed single leg step down and timed single leg squat
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
measure: Expectations regarding return to sport
timeFrame: 5 months post ACL reconstruction (= prior to intervention); 7 months post ACL reconstruction (= after the intervention); 9 months post ACL reconstruction (= after a 2 month retention period)
Locations:
city: Roeselare
country: Belgium
facility: AZ Delta Roeselare (Campus Brugsesteenweg)
state: West-Vlaanderen
Study officials:
References: