The Effect of 6 Weeks of Suspension Training on Fear of Re-injury and Criteria for ‎Returning to Sports in Athletes with a History of Anterior Cruciate Ligament ‎Reconstruction

Athletes with a history of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction need to return to sports after completing their medical rehabilitation, but they usually refuse to do so due to several months of absence from sports and fear of re-injury. Therefore, for these people, an ideal training protocol with appropriate intensity should be considered, so that they can prepare to return to sports, mentally and physically. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of suspension exercises using TRX (total body resistance exercise) on the fear of re-injury and return to sport criteria in athletes with a history of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

The sample of the present study included 26 male athletes (football and futsal) aged 18 to 30 years with a history of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, who were randomly divided into two experimental groups of 13 people (Age 24.54±3.45 years, Height 179.15±4.27 cm, Weight 82.31±6.67 kg, BMI 25.58±1.04) and control (Age 24.62±3.79 years, Height 179.00±3.91 cm, Weight 82.62±10.57 kg, BMI 25.77±2.83). To check the level of fear of re-injury, the Tempa 11 questionnaire was used, and to evaluate the criteria for returning to sports, side jump, 8 jump, and single leg triple jump tests were used. After the pre-test, the athletes did exercises for 6 weeks and at the end, the post-test was performed. The comparison of the mean variables between the two groups in the pre-test and post-test was done using the analysis of covariance test at a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that 6 weeks of suspension training using TRX led to a significant decrease in the scores of fear of re-injury tests of Tempa 11 (p=0.001), single leg side jump (p=0.001) and single leg 8 jump (p=0.001) and there was a significant increase in the single leg triple jump test score (p=0.001) in the experimental group compared to the control group.

Among the features of TRX trainings are the ease of doing these exercises, affordable cost, and the ability to perform them at any time and place. Also, considering that the results of this research showed that performing TRX trainings can improve the athletes' performance and reduce the fear of re-injury in Tempa 11 tests, side jumps, 8 jumps and single leg triple jumps, so to all trainers Sports and therapists are suggested to use the exercises used in this research to improve the performance and reduce the fear of athletes with a history of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.