Physiotherapy treatment after combined cruciate ligament reconstruction of the knee: a review

The purpose of this paper was to describe the physiotherapy treatment after combined reconstruction of the cruciate ligaments of the knee. In order to do so a literature review was made and the articles from Medline and Lilacs databases were selected, published between 1997 and 2006, in English and Portuguese. The articles that featured any of the following keywords were chosen: “rehabilitation”, “anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)”, “posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)”, “combined reconstruction”, “multiple-ligament injuried”, “knee dislocations” as well as its correlates in Portuguese. From 11 selected articles, 6 had been excludedby being descriptive studies, not having application of the protocol considered in groups of patients. Five articles were included in this study that descrived a protocol of physiotherapy treatment of combined reconstruction of the cruciate ligaments. It was observed that, despite the divergences related in the progression of the treatment, the protocols gave priority to protection of reconstruction tissues, given a bigger emphasis in the PCL graft.