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Abstract
PURPOSE: After an ACL reconstruction, patients demonstrate aberrant biomechanics when they return to sport. These aberrant biomechanics lead to joint degeneration, secondary injuries to the involved or uninvolved limb, and knee osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not a focused plyometric intervention had any effect on biomechanics in patients after an ACL reconstruction. METHODS: 4 subjects, 2 in the control group and 2 in the intervention group, completed our study. All four subjects completed a baseline and follow-up session. During these sessions, vertical ground reaction force and isokinetic strength were measured and the subjects completed multiple subjective self-reported surveys. The 2 subjects in the intervention group completed 12 plyometric sessions over 4 weeks, 3 times a week. RESULTS: The 2 intervention subjects showed changes in vertical ground reaction force and isokinetic strength in their hamstrings when compared to the intervention group. CONCLUSION: We concluded that our intervention shows trends towards improvements in biomechanics for patients post-ACL reconstruction. A major limitation of this study was the small sample size. With a larger sample size, our results may prove to have more significance.