Outcomes of Proprioceptive Training on Recovery After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

ObjectiveThe study was designed to explore the effect of proprioceptive training in contrast to conventional training among individuals after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. It includes joint position sense, subjective functional outcomes (Cincinnati, Knee injury Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, International Knee Documentation Committee knee form), muscle strength, pain, and kinesthesia.MethodsPubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched. Quality assessment was performed through the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and GRADE system. The standardized mean deviation was selected as the effect size.ResultsFifteen studies and 537 participants were included. Compared with conventional training, proprioceptive training may significantly enhance passive joint position sense (standardized mean deviation = -1.87 [95% CI = -2.39 to -1.34]) and single-leg hop function test performance (standardized mean deviation = 0.29 [95% CI = 0.04 to 0.54]). Data also indicated that proprioceptive training can moderately improve subjective functional outcomes (standardized mean deviation = 0.61 [95% CI = 0.23 to 0.99]). However, there were no significant effects on active joint position sense, muscle strength, and visual analogue scale.ConclusionsProprioceptive training has the potential to yield beneficial effects on knee passive joint position sense, hop functional test, and subjective functional outcomes in patients after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. However, its impact on enhancing knee active joint position sense and kinesthesia may not be statistically significant.