Which patient reported outcomes to collect after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

While objective clinical data—such as range of motion, strength, and stability—is necessary to monitor for patients recovering from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, patient reported outcomes (PROs) provide additional helpful data points regarding clinical recovery from the perspective of the patient. Ideally, clinical data in these high-demand patients incorporates objective and subjective data both pre-operatively and throughout the post-operative recovery course. A number of different PRO measures have been created and validated for patients with ACL injury. However, this same variety can create challenges when attempting to determine which PRO measure is most useful—and practical—to collect on a routine basis. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of the numerous types of patient-reported and subjective clinical outcome tools that are available to practitioners. When successfully incorporated into daily practice, these tools can serve as integral data points for both clinical and research applications.