Epidemiology, Mechanism, and Modern Approaches to Rehabilitation of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries: A Focus on High-Risk Sports

The incidence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury is a widespread and debilitating sports medicine complication in high-intensity sports and its prevalence is ever-growing. The postoperative reinjury and the threat of premature osteoarthritis are salient, and are one of the long-term dangers of the careers of the athletes. In this paper ACL injury epidemiology, the biomechanical factors, modern approaches to rehabilitation strategies in the high risk sports like basketball are reviewed. These injuries are mainly caused by non-contact ACL injury which is most of the time due to biomechanical imbalances such as dynamic knee valgus collapse and excessive tibial rotation and the prevention of this issue demands incorporation of sport-specific movement pattern interventions. The contemporary system of rehabilitation has become a sequence of several steps, that are standardized, including not only strength and neuromuscular training, but also some new technologies, including wearable sensors and blood flow restriction therapy. Rehabilitation approaches in the future will consider individualization and specialization more carefully, focus on functional performance over mere time-based milestones, and encourage the change of the rehabilitation goal of the medical clearance to sports preparedness. This paper critically evaluates the evidence research that is currently in progress in the fields of epidemiology and clinical significance of ACL injury, biomechanical mechanisms of non-contact injury, purpose and evidence of preoperative prehabilitation and staged postoperative rehabilitation/return-to-sport plans in order to present theoretical foundation and practical recommendations in the prevention, and rehabilitation of ACL injury.