Age, activity level and meniscus injury, but not tear location, tibial slope or anterolateral ligament injury predict coping with anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Introduction: Early recognition of potential predictors on the success of conservative treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is important, as appropriate treatment can be applied to each individual patient. The goal of this study is to assess the patient demographic and radiological parameters that predict coping with ACL injuries.

Methods: All patients presenting with a complete ACL injury between 2014 and 2018 at our clinic were included. The role of patient demographics (age, gender, activity level, meniscus injury and time from injury to clinic), and ACL tear location, bone bruises, tibial slope, and anterolateral ligament (ALL) injury were assessed on the success of conservative treatment using univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: Sixty-five patients (32%) were copers and 141 (68%) were non-copers. Univariate analysis showed that copers were significantly older (40 vs. 27 years, P < 0.001), had lower preinjury activity level (Tegner 5.7 vs. 6.5, P < 0.001) and less often lateral meniscus tears (16% vs. 5%, P = 0.019) but not medial meniscus tears (17% vs. 14%, P = 0.609) than non-copers. Multivariate analysis revealed that increasing age (P < 0.001), Tegner level ≤ 6 (P = 0.003) and no meniscus injury (P = 0.045) were independent predictors of coping with ACL deficiency.

Conclusions: Older age, participation in lower activity sports levels and absence of meniscus injury were predictive of coping with ACL deficiency, whereas there was no such role for tear location, tibial slope, lateral bone bruise presence, ALL injury or gender. These findings might help to identify potential copers and guide surgeons early in the optimal treatment for patients with ACL injury.