ACL-RSI Scores Over Time After ACL Reconstruction: What a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Found

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who work with athletes and active patients after ACL injury or reconstruction and who use, or are asked about, the ACL-RSI scale.

Licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in outpatient orthopaedic, sports, hospital-based and collegiate settings. The material is also relevant to athletic trainers and other rehabilitation clinicians involved in return-to-sport discussions after ACL injury.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course reports the findings of a single published systematic review with meta-analysis. Every figure and conclusion in the lessons that follow is drawn from that paper.

Sell TC, Zerega R, King V, Reiter CR, Wrona H, Bullock GS, Mills N, Räisänen A, Ledbetter L, Collins GS, Kvist J, Filbay SR, Losciale JM. Anterior Cruciate Ligament Return to Sport after Injury Scale (ACL-RSI) Scores over Time After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis. Sports Med Open. 2024;10(1):49. doi:10.1186/s40798-024-00712-w. PMID: 38689130. PMCID: PMC11061071.

A note on certainty

The review’s own authors rated the certainty of evidence as weak or limited for every analysis they ran, because most of the included studies carried a high risk of bias. That rating colors everything reported in this course and is repeated wherever a finding is described.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe how pooled ACL-RSI scores changed across time points in this review, from before reconstruction through two to five years afterward.
2. State what the authors concluded about psychological readiness between roughly six and 24 months after reconstruction, and how certain they were in that conclusion.
3. Name the participant and treatment-timing characteristics the review linked to lower ACL-RSI scores one to two years after reconstruction.

1. Start Here: how this course works and what the source material is
2. Podcast: Psychological Readiness After ACL Reconstruction, What the Pooled Scores Show (about nine minutes)
3. What the ACL-RSI Measures and Why the Review Was Done
4. How the Review Was Built: Searches, Studies, and Risk of Bias
5. ACL-RSI Scores From Before Surgery Through Five Years
6. Age, Sex, Surgical Timing, and the Plateau Between Six and 24 Months
7. Weak Evidence, Real Limits, and What the Authors Say It Means for Practice
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-test and course evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. This course reports the findings of a single published systematic review with meta-analysis. Every figure and conclusion in the lessons that follow is drawn from that paper.
2. Sell TC, Zerega R, King V, Reiter CR, Wrona H, Bullock GS, Mills N, Räisänen A, Ledbetter L, Collins GS, Kvist J, Filbay SR, Losciale JM. Anterior Cruciate Ligament Return to Sport after Injury Scale (ACL-RSI) Scores over Time After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis. Sports Med Open. 2024;10(1):49. doi:10.1186/s40798-024-00712-w. PMID: 38689130. PMCID: PMC11061071.
3. A note on certainty
4. The review's own authors rated the certainty of evidence as weak or limited for every analysis they ran, because most of the included studies carried a high risk of bias. That rating colors everything reported in this course and is repeated wherever a finding is described.