First of all, I would never use 1RM of knee extensions after an ACL injury, as this exercise would be contraindicated as it pusts stress on the new ACL. Secondly open chain exercises (ex done with foot not on a surface) have not been show to coorelate well to function, again suggesting that knee extensions would be a poor choice for testing.
I would have used a closed chain activity (foot planted, example squat/lunge) that incorporated some level of balance and proprioception. You would have to be very careful in the first 6 wks though with what you do to avoid injurying the new ACL. I would perform these tests on the injured, and non-injured leg, and see which group had the injured leg return to the level of the non-injured leg first (or at least 80% of the non-injured leg). This would give you a better idea which technique returned the injured leg to a soccer ready position first. Remember if you test them both at 20 wks, they may both be at the same place, whereas, had they been tested at 16 wks, one may be in front of the other, allowing a quicker return to sport.
Posted By BillW on July 24, 2008 at 16:36:44:
In Reply to: Hypothetical question for any PT
posted by Jeff on June 20, 2008 at 20:37:41:
