Comparing Strength of Knee That Had Surgery And Bilateral Knee That Didn’t

This study focused on analyzing the muscular strength of individuals’ knees that have undergone surgery compared to their bilateral knees that have not undergone knee surgery. The purpose of the study was to detect whether knee surgery has an effect on patients’ knee strength in the years following surgery. Participants found their one repetition maximum (1RM) on each leg, on the leg press, leg extension, and leg curl weight machines. Eight participants between the ages of 20 and 22 who had either ACL reconstruction surgery or an arthroscopic knee surgery volunteered for this study. A paired samples t-test was conducted on the data from participants’ 1RM, comparing their injured and uninjured leg strength. Results showed no significant difference between the legs on the leg press or leg extension, and a significant difference of p=.05 on the leg curl. These findings support those of Moller et al. (2009), who found no difference in functionality of the involved knee two years post ACL reconstruction, but the results are in contrast to many studies that do report differences in strength post-surgery (Bell et al., 2015). There were limitations to this study including a small sample size that could have affected the results.