Lateral Knee Pain Favors the Diagnosis of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and its Postoperative Assessment Potentially Contributes in Treatment Follow- Up; A Pilot Study

Abstract Background: Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction is a standard technique for treatment of patients with an ACL tear. According to clinical observations, lateral knee pain is highly associated with a teared ACL, this correlation so far has remained unnoticed in the literature. In this study, we aim to investigate the relationship of lateral knee pain with diagnosis of torn ACL.Methods: This pilot study was conducted on 30 candidates of ACL reconstruction. The participants underwent surgical reconstruction of ACL; Then Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to measure pain at three time points of preoperative, first and second postoperative visits. Results: A total of 26 participants (86.7%) were male with a mean age of 27.3±5.06 years. The results demonstrated that the intensity of lateral knee pain felt by the subjects significantly diminished during subsequent postoperative referrals (P-value<0.001). However, other variables including sex, age, and type of surgery (bone-patella tendon-bone and hamstring tendon) caused no significant difference in terms of pain reduction (p>0.05). Conclusions: Lateral knee pain is likely related with anterior cruciate ligament tear and favors its diagnosis. Also, the evaluation of lateral knee pain may contribute in Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction (ACLR) monitoring in the follow-up stage.