Functional recovery of athletes through rehabilitation training after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

	NMES group (n = 10)	Conventional group (n = 10)
Gender	Male = 4,Female = 6	Male = 5,Female = 5
Age, year	21.23 ± 1.68	21.26 ± 1.71
Height, cm	175.62 ± 5.68	176.15 ± 6.02
Weight, kg	72.36 ± 12.36	73.29 ± 11.78
Training time, year	5.69 ± 2.23	5.77 ± 2.19

Table 2

Rehabilitation training program for the conventional group

Time	Content	Number of groups
Week 2–6 after surgery	Walking exercise	10–15 min for each exercise, twice each day
	Resistance straight-leg raising exercise and weight transfer exercise
	Stair climbing exercise
	Weighted knee extension exercise
	Elastic band-assisted leg curl exercise
Week 6–12 after surgery	Static squatting exercise	10–15 min for each exercise, twice each day
	Stair descending exercise
	Split-leg squatting exercise
	Balance exercise

Table 3

Rehabilitation program for the NMES group

Time	Content	Program	Position of electrical stimulation patch	Duration, min
Week 2–4 after surgery	Knee mobility training	Sliding wall exercise	The front of the thigh	5
	Knee mobility training	Knee flexion and extension exercises	The front of the thigh	25
	Leg muscle strength training	Squatting	The front of the thigh	20
		Prone backward and upward calf curl exercise	The back of the thigh	20
		Seated resistance bicycle exercise	The front of the thigh	15
		Squatting against the wall	The front of the thigh	5
	Functional training for adjacent joints	Prone leg raise exercise	Hip	10
		Standing heel raise exercise	Calf gastrocnemius	10
		Core exercise	Lower back and abdominals	10
Week 4–8 after surgery	Knee mobility training	Seated resistance bicycle exercise	The front of the thigh	30
	Leg muscle strength training	Lunge squat exercise	The front of the thigh	20
		Bridge leg curl exercise	The back of the thigh	20
		Squatting against the wall	The front of the thigh	10
	Functional training for adjacent joints	Hip bridge exercise	Hip	20
		Heel lifts	Calf gastrocnemius	10
		Core exercise	Lower back and abdominals	10
Week 8–12 after surgery	Knee mobility training	Seated resistance bicycle exercise	The front of the thigh	30
	Leg muscle strength training	Lunge squat exercise	The front of the thigh	20
		Supine suspension knee curl	The back of the thigh	20
		Squatting against the wall	The front of the thigh	10
	Functional training for adjacent joints	Weighted hip bridge exercise	Hip	20
		Weighted heel lift	Calf gastrocnemius	20
		Core exercise	Lower back and abdominals	10

Table 4

Comparison of Lysholm scores

	Before training	After training	P value	Cohen’s d
NMES group	19.56 ± 5.87	86.56 ± 11.67	0.001	7.61
Conventional group	19.89 ± 5.64	74.12 ± 12.03	0.001	6.16
P value	0.146	0.026
Cohen’s d	0.06	1.05

Table 5

Comparison of thigh circumference on the affected side (unit: cm)

	Before training	After training	P value	Cohen’s d
NMES group	42.36 ± 2.68	47.15 ± 2.56	0.001	1.83
Conventional group	43.01 ± 2.94	43.26 ± 2.77	0.069	0.09
P value	0.089	0.044
Cohen’s d	0.23	1.46

Table 6

Active flexion angle of the affected knee joint (unit: °)

	Before training	After training	P value	Cohen’s d
NMES group	28.79 ± 8.94	105.12 ± 9.87	0.001	8.11
Conventional group	28.16 ± 8.69	90.21 ± 18.64	0.003	4.48
P value	0.084	0.018
Cohen’s d	0.07	1.01

Table 7

Y-balance test performance

	NMES group	Conventional group	P value	Cohen’s d
Left-leg support	93.67 ± 0.43	84.46 ± 0.56	0.002	8.21
Right-leg support	91.72 ± 0.48	83.37 ± 0.62	0.001	8.33
P value	0.067	0.082
Cohen’s d	0.05	0.07

Table 8

Ten-meter walking speed (unit: m/s)

	NMES group	Conventional group	P value	Cohen’s d
Ten-meter walking speed	1.01 ± 0.15	0.84 ± 0.12	0.001	5.56

Table 9

Comparison of three consecutive jumps on one leg (unit: cm)

	NMES group	Conventional group	P value	Cohen’s d
Healthy side	264.39 ± 29.36	261.37 ± 29.87	0.067	0.11
Affected side	178.16 ± 21.26	150.36 ± 30.77	0.033	1.05
P value	0.002	0.003
Cohen’s d	8.77	5.45

Table 10

Comparison of ACL-RSI scale scores

	NMES group	Conventional group	P value	Cohen’s d
ACL-RSI scale score	84.21 ± 5.32	68.97 ± 4.17	0.001	7.64

References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.37190/abb/218840 | Journal eISSN: 2450-6303 | Journal ISSN: 1509-409X

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Language: English

Page range: 99 - 106

Submitted on: Oct 16, 2025

Accepted on: Mar 3, 2026

Published on: Oct 15, 2026

Published by: Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

Rehabilitation training,

Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction,

Functional recovery,

Knee joint

Related subjects:

Engineering,

Bioengineering and biomedical engineering,

Cellular and tissue engineering,

Biomechanics,

Medicine,

Biomedical engineering,

Materials sciences,

Biomaterials and natural materials

© 2026 Jin Du, Haoyan Liu, published by Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 28 (2026): Issue 1 (March 2026)