FRIDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Despite intensive rehabilitation efforts, injured female athletes continue to lose bone mineral density (BMD) up to two years after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery, researchers reported this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Chicago.
Diane Lynn Dahm, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues measured BMD in 22 female patients with ruptured ACL before surgery and six weeks, three months, six months, one year and two years afterwards.
In spite of rehabilitation, the patients lost BMD in the patella, tibia and femur. The patients lost the most BMD three months after surgery (13.3 percent patella, 11.4 percent femur, 7.3 percent tibia). Two years after surgery, patients were still losing BMD from the distal femur (5.5 percent). While there was no continuing BMD loss in the tibia or patella, BMD was much lower in all three areas than in uninjured controls.
"Female patients experienced significant losses in BMD about the knee following ACL reconstruction that showed only partial recovery at two years," the authors write. "This occurred despite accelerated rehabilitation and return to previous levels of activity."
Abstract
