Sports Rehabilitation Therapy for Knee Joint Sports Injuries: A Case Study of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Patellar Chondromalacia

The scoring dimensions (18 items in total) include:

Symptoms (7 items): pain frequency, pain at rest, pain during activity, swelling, joint locking, sensation of joint instability.

Activities of daily living (9 items): walking, ascending and descending stairs, kneeling, squatting, rising from a seated position, running, jumping, turning, and sudden stopping ability.

Sports participation (2 items): comparison of current sports activity level with pre-injury level.

Scoring rules: each item corresponds to a score (0-4 points or 0-10 points), and the total score is standardized to a 0-100 scale. A higher score indicates better function (100 points = no limitations whatsoever).

Scoring Dimensions (8 items in total):

Limping (5 points)

Need for support (5 points)

Joint locking (15 points)

Joint instability (25 points)

Pain (25 points)

Swelling (10 points)

Ascending and descending stairs (10 points)

Squatting (5 points)

Scoring Rules:

The total score ranges from 0 to 100 points, with the score corresponding to functional levels as follows:

≥95 points: Excellent

84-94 points: Good

65-83 points: Fair

<65 points: Poor

VAS is a commonly used subjective pain assessment tool. In this study, patients were asked to use the VAS score at different follow-up time points to subjectively evaluate the average pain intensity in their affected shoulder. The VAS scoring method involves drawing a 10 cm horizontal line on paper. One end of the line is marked as 0, indicating no pain, while the other end is marked as 10, indicating severe pain. The middle sections represent varying degrees of pain. Patients are instructed to mark a point on the line based on their self-perceived level of pain.

The SF-36 Quality of Life Score assesses both physical health (physical functioning, role-physical, bodily pain, general health) and mental health (vitality, social functioning, role-emotional, mental health) across eight dimensions through 36 questions. Each dimension is standardized to a score ranging from 0 to 100 points and can be summarized into two composite scores: the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and the Mental Component Summary (MCS). Higher scores indicate better quality of life.

Testing Instrument: A plastic Baseline® goniometer (Model 12-100, New York, NY, USA) was used.

Testing Method:Knee flexion and extension range of motion (ROM) were measured with the patient in the supine position, pelvis stabilized, and hip in neutral alignment (0° flexion/extension). For knee flexion, the thigh was fixed while the lower leg was actively or passively moved toward the buttocks in the sagittal plane, and the maximum flexion angle was recorded. For knee extension, the heel was elevated to lift the thigh off the surface, and the ability to achieve full extension (0°) or hyperextension was measured.A goniometer was used with its stationary arm aligned along the femoral shaft, movable arm along the tibial shaft, and axis placed at the lateral femoral condyle. To ensure accuracy, each ROM parameter was measured three times, and the average value was used for final analysis. All measurements were performed by trained professionals following standardized protocols.

A 3.0T magnetic resonance scanner (Siemens Healthineers) was used for knee joint scanning. Professional radiologists, who were blinded to group assignments, performed MRI examinations of the affected knee joints. Routine sequences included axial PD fat-suppressed sequences, oblique coronal T1WI and T2WI fat-suppressed sequences, and oblique sagittal PD fat-suppressed sequences. The knee positions of all patients were standardized. Two radiologists, each with five years of experience in MRI analysis, reviewed the acquired MRI images. They were blinded to the patients' diagnoses and were not involved in the treatment process.