Are re-injured ligaments equivalent mechanically to injured ligaments: The role of re-injury severity?:

The consequences of ligament re-injury have received limited attention. Although the mechanical properties of injured ligaments improve over time, these properties are never fully recaptured, rendering these injured ligaments susceptible to re-injury. Previous injury is a significant risk factor for recurrent injury, and this re-injury can result in longer absence from activity than the initial injury. A rabbit medial collateral ligament model was used to compare mechanically re-injured right medial collateral ligaments to injured left medial collateral ligaments. Two groups of different re-injury severity were investigated: ‘minor’ re-injury comparing transection re-injured right medial collateral ligaments to transection injured left medial collateral ligaments; ‘major’ re-injury comparing gap re-injured right medial collateral ligaments to transection injured left medial collateral ligaments. Initial injuries for both groups were right medial collateral ligament transections 1 week before re-injury. Af...