CONCEPT

Many hobby athletes are doing their sports activities, mainly weekends, untrained and overestimate the performance ability of their own body.  Consequently, a lot of injuries happen, for example a torn ACL.  Every year thousands of ACL injuries are diagnosed in Germany and, in most cases, surgery is necessary. Even though forecasts regarding a return to sports are positive, the right time is crucial.  Up to now, the costs for tests to determine a possible comeback were tens of thousands of Euros, which is why the tests were applied only sporadically in professional sports.  A sports clinic in Innsbruck, Austria, the OSM Research Foundation, the Institute for Sports Science of the University of Innsbruck, and the Sports Therapy Huber have set the goal to develop a test that can determine optimally, with fair prices for professionals as well as hobby athletes, when a comeback makes sense thus minimizing the risk of suffering injuries again due to a too early comeback.  We work closely together with the Institute for Sports Science of the University of Innsbruck to optimize the tests.

Regarding professionals that suffered an ACL injury, the time frame for a comeback to high-risk sports is usually 6 to 9 months.  However, the tests clearly demonstrate that, even after this time, there are still often deficits.

"The most common rerupture rate or muscle injury following an ACL surgery is between month 6 to 18 because most of the patients feel too good too early and return to sports even though they still have a lot of muscular deficits."  Dr.-med. Juergen Eichhorn (sports orthopaedic surgeon).