Back in the Game: a Smartphone Application to Support Athletes Returning to Sport After Serious Injury

Summary

Returning to sport is one of the primary concerns of athletes following injury. Yet, after serious injury, up to 50% of athletes do not return to competitive sport. Psychological factors play an important role in the athlete's return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, and physical and psychological readiness to return to sport often do not coincide. There are currently no easily accessible programs for non-professional athletes to help address the psychological factors that impact on their return to sport after injury.

The aim of this trial is to test whether a smartphone application (app) delivering cognitive-behavioural therapy to address psychological factors including fear, confidence and recovery expectations, is effective for improving the number of people who return sport following ACL reconstruction.

We hypothesise that patients who use the app in addition to receiving usual rehabilitation care after ACL reconstruction will return to sport in greater numbers than patients who receive usual rehabilitation care only.

Conditions

• Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Back in the Game

A six-month programme of cognitive-behavioural therapy delivered by smartphone application. The intervention commences in the first week after ACL reconstruction. The smartphone app is delivered in parallel with usual rehabilitation care. Usual rehabilitation care: all participants will be referred to physiotherapy following ACL reconstruction. Overall treatment aims, content and progressions of rehabilitation will follow current clinical guidelines. The choice of specific therapies, exercises and the number of treatment sessions needed to achieve the treatment aims is at the clinical discretion of the treating physiotherapist.

OTHER

Usual rehabilitation care

Following ACL reconstruction, as per routine clinical practice, all participants will be referred to physiotherapy. Overall treatment aims, content and progressions of rehabilitation will follow current clinical guidelines. The choice of specific therapies, exercises and the number of treatment sessions needed to achieve the required treatment aims is at the clinical discretion of the treating physiotherapist.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Swedish Research Council

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Swedish Research Council for Sport Science

  collaborator OTHER

• American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• Region Östergötland

  collaborator OTHER

• Psykologpartners

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Karolinska Institutet

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Clare L Ardern, PhD · Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

30 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-06-05

Primary Completion

2023-07-31

Completion

2024-07-31

Countries

• Sweden

Study Locations