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Male and Female Adolescent Athletes' Readiness to Return to Sport After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Reconstruction
Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether readiness to return to sport (RTS) differed between adolescent male and female athletes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Design: Longitudinal, prospective cohort. Setting: Outpatient office associated with tertiary-care hospital. Patients: A total of 93 adolescent athletes, 17 years of age and younger, who underwent ACLR surgery with a hamstring autograft were included. Independent Variables: Male and female athletes. Main Outcome Measures: Anterior cruciate ligament–return to sport after injury (ACL-RSI) completed at 3 time points: (1) preoperatively (Pre-op), (2) approximately 3 months into rehabilitation (Post-op 1), and (3) during RTS phases of recovery (Post-op 2). Results: There was a significant main effect for both sex (P < 0.010) and time (P < 0.0001) with male athletes having higher ACL-RSI scores than female athletes at all 3 time points; however, there was no significant time by sex interaction. All ACL-RSI scores increased significantly across time, regardless of sex. There were no statistically significant differences between ACL-RSI scores at all 3 time points between individuals who did and did not receive physician clearance. Conclusions: This study provides a longitudinal depiction of adolescent athletes' readiness to RTS after ACL injury throughout recovery. Both male and female athletes demonstrated diminished ACL-RSI scores before undergoing surgery, with increasing scores at both postoperative time points for both sexes. Overall, female athletes reported lower readiness to RTS at all 3 time points compared with male athletes.
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“Additionally, time from surgery is another important factor influencing psychological outcomes after ACLR, with greater mental readiness to RTS observed at later post-operative time points (Kostyun et al., 2021).”
From The relationship between psychological readiness to return to sport and kinesiophobia in teens and young adults after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (2025) · cites this paper as Kostyun et al., 2021
In the citing paper
“This is supported by other works that have found age-related differences in psychological readiness to RTS after ACLR with younger patients reporting greater readiness (Webster et al., 2018; Kostyun et al., 2021; Milewski et al., 2023).”
From The relationship between psychological readiness to return to sport and kinesiophobia in teens and young adults after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (2025) · cites this paper as Kostyun et al., 2021
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Research works printed but not linked: 31
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Butler, L., Baez, S., Walker, C., Roman, D., Douthit, T., Kuenze, C., Ulman, S., & ARROW (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1623398 · Cited by 9
Metadata
- Authors
- Kostyun, R. O., Burland, J. P., Kostyun, K. J., Milewski, M. D., & Nissen, C. W.
- Affiliations
- Connecticut Children's Medical Center (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Boston Children's Hospital (US)
- The Sports Center, Glastonbury, Connecticut.
- Corresponding author
- Kostyun, Regina O.
- Kostyun, Kyle J.
- Venue
- Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine
- Published
- 2019-11-14
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 383-387
- ISSN
- 1050-642X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2987904221
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 2.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Knee injuries and reconstruction techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports injuries and prevention
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Foot and Ankle Surgery
- Keywords
- anterior cruciate ligament injury, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, return to sport, youth athletes, sex differences, hamstring tendon graft, ACL-RSI, postoperative recovery
- MeSH terms
- Return to Sport, Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries, Adolescent, Female, Humans, Male, Prospective Studies, Athletes, Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
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