Sport-specificity of knee scoring systems to assess disability in anterior cruciate ligament-deficient athletes

We compared the outcome measures of three knee scoring systems currently used to measure disability in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-deficient athletes. Twenty-nine ACL-deficient athletes completed three scoring systems (the Lysholm Knee Scoring System, a modified version of the Cincinnati Knee Scoring System, and the Knee Outcome Survey). Results demonstrate statistically significant mean differences and linear relationships between the outcome measures for the three scoring systems. The Knee Outcome Survey appears to provide valid measures of disability and indicates that our subjects functioned well with activities of daily living but became symptomatic and functionally limited with sports. The outcome measures also indicate that the Lysholm system is more specific to activities of daily living, while the modified Cincinnati is more specific to sports. We recommend that standard scoring systems be developed to provide measures of functional disability in athletes who experience knee injuries.