Today we're talking about one very important milestone in rehabilitation after an ACL reconstruction: return to running. It's a milestone that sometimes gets overshadowed by its more flamboyant sibling, return to sport.
Brendan Butler joins JOSPT Insights to explore best practice in return to running. Brendan an Irish sports physiotherapist, who is currently working at the Aspetar Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Hospital in Doha, Qatar. He's a member of the Aspetar ACL team, where he applies skills honed in Gaelic football, rugby, soccer and athletics.
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RESOURCES
Simple clinical measures that quantify knee loading symmetry during running: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41110241/
Clinician choices for return to running criteria: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/josptopen.2026.0195
Lower medial hamstring activity during running: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33782638/