18 Postural orientation in patients one year after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Introduction Altered postural orientation (i.e., ability to align joints and body segments) is a suggested risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. While 3D analysis has shown worse orientation on the injured leg, side-to-side differences using a test battery for visual assessment of postural orientation errors (POEs) have not been studied. This study aimed to evaluate differences in POEs between injured and non-injured leg in patients 10–16 months after ACL-reconstruction.Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study included 73 patients (53% women, mean age 25 years) from the SHIELD cohort, recruited from Skåne University Hospital, Sweden, mean 12 months after ACL-reconstruction. Five POEs (lower extremity and trunk) were scored from video recordings of five tasks (ADL: single-leg squat, stair descending, forward lunge, Sport: single-leg hop for distance, side-hop). POE scores were calculated for each task, subscores for ADL and Sport, respectively, and the total test battery.Results The injured leg showed higher (worse) POE scores compared with the non-injured leg in the ADL tasks (each task (p