Anterior Cruciate Ligaments: Studying Updates in neuroCognition After Knee Manipulation

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL · Jun 30, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying whether a treatment called knee joint manipulation can help improve brain and muscle function in people who have had surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee. The ACL is an important ligament that helps keep your knee stable, and after surgery, some people may have slower reaction times or difficulty with movement. The study will look at how this treatment affects reaction times and movement skills by testing participants before and after the knee manipulation.

People who might be eligible to join are between 18 and 35 years old, had ACL surgery between 4 months and 5 years ago, and are active in sports or physical activities with their injured knee. They must also show some delay in reaction time compared to typical averages and have been cleared by a doctor to participate. If chosen, participants will complete a series of simple tests that measure how quickly and accurately they respond to visual cues and how well they perform certain hopping tasks, both before and after receiving the knee manipulation treatment. This study aims to see if adding knee manipulation to rehabilitation is practical and if it could help improve brain and muscle coordination after ACL surgery.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Provided informed consent prior to any study procedures that are performed.
• • Are between the ages of 18 and 35.
• • Have undergone ACLR surgery. All autograft and allograft types are accepted.
• • Are 4-months to 5-years post-ACLR.
• • Injured knee playing or training for sports (recreational or organized) or during physical activity.
• • Have been cleared by a physician to return to activities and/or participate in this study.
• • Are at least the minimally clinical important difference (MCID) above the normative reaction time average for our methods as established by previous literature in at least 1 reaction time task.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • History of concussion in the past 3 months.
• • The participant is pregnant.
• • Have a neurological disorder, including epilepsy.
• • Currently injured or have injured their lower extremity in the past 3 months.
• • Had surgery on multiple ligaments when their ACL was injured.