The Sports Docs Podcast

29. LIVE from AAOS with Dr. Brian Waterman: Quadriceps Strength after ACL Reconstruction with Quad Autograft

March 20, 2023 Season 3 Episode 2
The Sports Docs Podcast
29. LIVE from AAOS with Dr. Brian Waterman: Quadriceps Strength after ACL Reconstruction with Quad Autograft
Show Notes

We’re coming to you live from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in Las Vegas, our largest orthopaedic conference. This year, over 20,000 orthopedic professionals gathered at the AAOS meeting to take part. The educational program is comprised of instructional course lectures, video theater, live surgeries, podium presentations and research posters.

Over the next several episodes we’re going to be reviewing five sports medicine posters that were presented at the AAOS meeting. On this podcast we try to review the most updated literature on different sports medicine topics. So, reviewing some of the posters that were just presented at AAOS is particularly exciting for us because this is very new data. So new that most of this data has not even been published yet.

We’re joined by Dr. Brian Waterman to get his take on these poster presentations.

Dr. Brian Waterman is a board-certified, orthopedic surgeon specializing in adult and pediatric sports medicine, cartilage restoration and joint preservation, complex knee surgery and shoulder and elbow care. He is the Chief of sports medicine at Wake Forest University and the Director of their sports medicine fellowship program. Dr. Waterman completed his orthopedic surgery residency at William Beaumont Army Medical Center and served 13 years in the U.S. Army, earning multiple honors including the Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal.

Dr. Waterman then went on to complete a sports medicine fellowship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He is the team physician for Wake Forest University, the Winston-Salem Dash, U.S. Ski and Snowboard and several local high schools.

Dr. Waterman is an associate editor for the Arthroscopy Journal and is on the Board of Directors for Arthroscopy Association of North America. Given his extensive experience with orthopedic research, Dr. Waterman led the sports medicine poster tour at AAOS this year, so we’re looking forward to getting his unique perspective on these poster presentations.

Featured Poster:
Factors Associated with Return of Quadriceps Strength following ACL Reconstruction using Quad Tendon Autograft.

Persistent quad strength deficit following ACL reconstruction is very concerning. It is associated with ACL retears, diminished patient-reported outcomes, lower return to sport, altered knee joint kinematics, and increased risk of osteoarthritis.

The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to identify factors that influence the return of knee extensor strength following ACL reconstruction with quad tendon autograft. Volker Musahl and colleagues at UPMC found that lower pre-op patient reported clinical scores (including higher pre-op pain level and lower self-reported function), female sex, and the use of BFR consistently post-op was associated with a lower likelihood of achieving post-op knee extensor strength symmetry in quad autograft ACL reconstructions.