Knee Surgery Among College Athletes

Effects of knee surgery on a subsequent injury and surgery among NCAA college athletes

Dr. Sharon Hume et al. published a very interesting article in the April 2014 issue of the American Journal  of Sports Medicine. She and her colleagues studied 456 Division 1 athletes at UCLA who had a history of an orthopaedic surgery procedure.

They identified a 6.8 fold increased chance of sustaining another knee injury if the athlete had a history of prior knee surgery. There was a staggering 14.4 fold chance that the athletes with a history of a prior knee surgery would end up undergoing another knee surgery.

ACL Reconstruction May Increase Risk Of Additional Knee Surgery for College Athletes

The group of college student athletes that was at extreme risk of an additional knee surgery were the student athletes that had undergone an ACL reconstruction prior to starting their collegiate career.

If a student had an ACL reconstruction before starting college, there was an 892 fold increased risk that they would undergo a second knee surgery during college while playing D-1 sports. There was a 19.6 fold chance that those athletes would experience an additional knee injury.

These research findings suggest that teaching young athletes about ACL injury prevention is more important than ever to reduce the risk of knee injuries and future knee surgery.