Optimized Rehabilitation After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Before Returning to Sport (ORACL-Run)

April 21, 2026 updated by: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint Etienne

Optimized Rehabilitation After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction at the First Step of Return to Sport

Following reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a standardized rehabilitation protocol is carried out by a physiotherapist. In France, a well-established rehabilitation consensus guides the first phase of 3 months postoperatively and patient compliance is generally excellent. The next phase should allow a return to sport (RTS) following a continuum depending on the objectives of the sport's patient, starting with a return to running activities (RTR) and a preparatory phase for a RTS which may be authorized at 6 months post-op.

This multicentre randomized control trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an individualized and optimized rehabilitation program guided by monthly assessments carried out by physiotherapists from the 3rd to the 6th month postoperatively to reduce the risk of new ACL injuries (operated or healthy knee), compared to standard management.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Each year more than 40,000 surgical reconstructions of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) by ligamentoplasty are performed in France; the rupture being most often the result of sports practice. Following this surgical reconstruction of the ACL, a standardized rehabilitation protocol is carried out by a masseur-physiotherapist. A well-established rehabilitative consensus guides the first phase of the 3 months post-operative and patient compliance is generally excellent. The next phase should allow the return to sport (RTS) by following a continuum according to the objectives of the athlete patient. In this continuum, authors distinguish the return to sports activities in the axis, such as running (RTS1), preparing the return to training (RTS2), and much later will be done by the return to competition (RTS3).RTS2, which is probably the most delicate stage due to the highly variable progression from one patient to another, is generally allowed from the 6th month post-operative, after the realization and validation of a battery of tests assessing the athlete's ability to resume training.Despite this precaution, there is a major risk of new injury (20%), especially in the contralateral knee (12%) requiring new, longer, more restrictive rehabilitation care with an additional 3 to 12 months' incapacity for work or sport.. As the risk of "re-injury" of the knee seems independent of the surgical technique used and the first 3 months of rehabilitation, the rehabilitative management of this phase of 3 to 6 months post-operative appears decisive in the prevention of a new injury. The return to running (in the RTS1) therefore seems a major objective for rehabilitation and will build the necessary foundation for the resumption of the patient's favorite sport, RTS2. However, to allow the return to running, no objective criteria have been validated to date and no consensus is identifiable in the scientific literature. It is the same for his preparation and the gradual resumption of running. Thus, an optimized rehabilitation between the 3rd and 6th month, based on objective evaluations of the patient's functional abilities allowing personalized rehabilitation, including guided and individualized running training, could reduce the risk of new ACL injuries (operated or healthy knee) by better preparing the patient for RTS2: the return to his favorite sport

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
432

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • France
      • Challes-les-Eaux, France, 73000
        • Recruiting
        • Médipôle de Savoie
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Claire Coulondre, physio
      • Domont, France, 95330
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Clinique de Domont Ortholab
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • JEAN MAZEAS, PHYSIO
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • AYRTON MOIROUX-SARAHOUI, PHYSIO
      • Firminy, France
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Centre Hospitalier de Firminy
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Jacques Gaetan, physio
      • Lyon, France, 69000
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Hopital de la croix rousse
        • Principal Investigator:
          • CLEMENT CHOMMY, PHYSIO
      • Lyon, France, 69495
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Hopital Lyon Sud
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Sébastien MATEO, PHYSIO
      • Lyon, France, 69000
        • Recruiting
        • Clinique de la Sauvegarde
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Benoit Pairot de Fontenay, Physio
      • Saint-Etienne, France, 42055
        • Recruiting
        • CHU de Saint-Etienne
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Hugo MORON, Physio
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Grégory MOREL, Physio
  • Switzerland
      • Geneva, Switzerland
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Hôpital de La Tour
        • Principal Investigator:
          • François FOURCHET, Physio

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 25 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Affiliation to the French Social Security system
  • Patient who has had an ACL reconstruction regardless of the standard surgical technique used
  • Patient with a sports activity, pivot and/or contact (e.g. soccer, basketball, handball, rugby, judo...) and practiced in competition (Tegner sports activity scores >7 and Marx scores >11 before the accident.
  • Patient wishing to return to competitive sport
  • Consent signed by the patient

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Contralateral or bilateral involvement or operated on for a re-injury of the ACL
  • Patients with a medical contraindication to the performance of one of the tests
  • Patients suffering from a neurological (motor and/or sensitive), vestibular or rheumatic pathology
  • Patient performing rehabilitation with a physiotherapist who does not wish to participate in the study.
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding woman
  • Patient under guardianship or curators

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Standard rehabilitation
Classical rehabilitation carried out by a physiotherapist with an evaluation at 6 months post-surgery to authorize the return to sport.
Other: Usual rehabilitation
Usual rehabilitation according to the practice of the "Haute Autorité de Santé" (HAS)
Active Comparator: Optimized rehabilitation
Classical rehabilitation carried out by a physiotherapist + expert physiotherapist performing monthly clinical and functional assessments with recommendations for exercises and running program sent to the physiotherapist.
Other: Rehabilitation optimized
Rehabilitation optimized according to the study protocol

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of patients with at least one new ACL injury
Time Frame: At 24 months post surgery
A re-rupture of the operated ACL or a rupture on the contralateral side, objectified by a Lachman test performed with the absence of a "firm" stop, and a difference in laxity measured with an arthrometer ( >3 mm for the KT-1000 ™ or >3 mm for the GNRB® or >5 mm for the Telos™ ) and by an MRI diagnosing an ACL rupture.
At 24 months post surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of patients meeting all the criteria necessary for authorization to return to their usual sports activities
Time Frame: At 6 months post surgery

The criteria are :

  • Recovery of symmetry of muscle strength of the Quadriceps with a Limb Symmetry Index (LSI) > 90%
  • International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score > the 15th percentile of subjects of the same age
  • Anterior Cruciate Ligament-Return to Sport after Injury (ACL-RSI) score >56
At 6 months post surgery
Number of patients with at least one post-surgical complication
Time Frame: At 24 months post surgery

Post-surgical complications are :

  • residual flexion (>5°) measured by goniometric joint assessment,
  • knee flexion deficit (>10°) measured by goniometric joint assessment,
  • Cyclops syndrome as measured by Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
  • secondary symptomatic meniscal lesions objectified by a clinical examination performed by a physician and an MRI,
  • Myo-aponeurotic lesions objectified by a clinical examination performed by a physician and medical imaging (MRI or ultrasound).
At 24 months post surgery
Number of patients with <10% asymmetry in running biomechanical parameters
Time Frame: At 6 month post surgery
Asymmetry <10% in biomechanical running parameters (stride length or stiffness coefficient of each lower limb)
At 6 month post surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint Etienne

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Ministry of Health, France

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Chair: Thomas NERI, MD, CHU de Saint-Etienne
  • Principal Investigator: Grégory MOREL, Physio, CHU de Saint-Etienne

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
November 14, 2022

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
March 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
April 5, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 5, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
April 12, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 21, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 20PH282
  • 2022-A00287-36 (Other Identifier: ANSM)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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