Arthrofibrosis after early anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Lysholm score, and IKDC score. Although the difference was not statistically significant, the results regarding the activity level at follow-up are medically important: In group A, 77% of the patients had the same activity level compared to the preoperative status and 23% were less active. In group B, 61% showed the same activity level at follow-up and 39% a lower one. We conclude that in group A the late results in activity level are better and the incidence of arthrofibrosis is lower (4.5%) than for the patients operated on between 4 and 14 days after injury (arthrofibrosis rate 11%). We therefore suggest that early ACL surgery should be performed within 3 days after injury. In all other cases we recommend delayed ACL reconstruction after an interval of over 4‐6 weeks, since the incidence of arthrofibrosis in group B was higher (11%) than in the existing literature on delayed ACL reconstruction.