Time to Reflect on Return to Sport Timing Following ACL Reconstruction

The time of return to sport following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is a commonly discussed topic within clinical settings and the sports medicine literature. Emerging science has demonstrated protective effects of delaying the time of sport clearance on athlete reinjury. Though a single time cutoff is unlikely to be applicable for all athletes, large inconsistencies in the time of return to sport clearance are present in both the literature and within prescribed clinical protocols. A multitude of patient factors, such as perceived function, objective function, confidence, post-operative goals, among others, are vital for how athletes are progressed and released for sport participation. This Current Opinion article is constructed to discuss the time to return to sport after ACL reconstruction—factors that may influence timing decisions, how time is assessed within the scientific literature—and to promote discussion on this common topic within the sports medicine and athletic communities. The aim of the article is not to establish defined clinical time cutoffs for this population.