Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction by using otogeneous hamstring tendons with home-based rehabilitation

We investigated patients undergoing arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using otogeneous hamstring tendons with a cross-pin technique to compare a post-operative home-based rehabilitation programme with a clinic-based programme. ACL reconstruction was performed on 104 patients (103 male) by the same surgeon. The mean age of the patients was 31.5 years (range 18 - 43 years) and the mean time interval between injury and operation was 34.3 months. Patients were randomly allocated to either a home-based (n = 52) or clinic-based rehabilitation programme (n = 52). Mean follow-up was 31.1 months (range 12 - 66 months). Patients underwent a series of examinations before and after surgery in order to evaluate functional recovery of their injured knee. The results demonstrated that using otogeneous hamstring tendons for ACL reconstruction was safe and produced satisfactory results. The study also demonstrated that a homebased rehabilitation programme was as effective as a clinic-based programme.