Without proper surgical repair, a patellar tendon rupture is extremely disabling. The rarity of this knee injury, which occurs in less than 0.5% of the population annually, and the variable length of the patellar tendon when the leg is extended or flexed increase the difficulty of repair.

Quadriceps strength plays a large role in returning patients to pre-injury function after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Yet little was known about the impact of surgical timing on strength.

“We wanted to be able to tell patients what to expect in terms of preoperative quadriceps strength and the progression of quadriceps strength postoperatively based on whether they have an acute or chronic ACL tear,” says Rachel Slaven, PT, DPT, a physical therapist at Shelbourne Knee Center.

When orthopedic Surgeon K. Donald Shelbourne, MD, began his practice in 1982, the mother of a 15-year-old girl whose anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) he had reconstructed asked him a question he couldn’t answer. “She wanted to know what was going to happen to her daughter’s knee in 20 years. I had no idea,” he says.

Demand for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is expected to soar and is likely to exceed the supply of joint replacement surgeons in the coming years. Shelbourne Knee Center’s research-backed Knee Rehabilitation Program for Osteoarthritis (OA) is an effective nonsurgical treatment for most patients with knee OA.