Achieving full range of motion after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

A review of 119 consecutive anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions showed that the time from injury to surgery (early versus delayed) did not make a difference in obtaining full range of motion. Only patients with late surgery had a slight decrease in range of motion. Followup data were obtained for 111 reconstructions. Twenty-one were early surgeries (1 to 14 days), 22 were delayed surgeries (15 to 28 days), and 68 were late surgeries (more than 28 days). The patients involved in the 21 early surgeries obtained 0 degree of knee extension or better and 135 degrees of knee flexion or better. The patients involved in the 22 delayed reconstructions reached 0 degree of knee extension or better and 135 degrees of flexion or better. Among the patients with the 68 late surgeries, 93% of the knees reached 0 degree of extension or better and all reached at least 135 degrees of flexion. The five patients who did not achieve full knee extension had extension loses less than 4 degrees. All 111 reconstructions were determined stable when full range of motion was achieved based on clinical examination, which included the Lachman test, anterior drawer test, pivot shift, and KT-1000 arthrometer when appropriate.