Protein supplementation improves results of rehabilitation following knee arthroscopic surgery in competitive soccer players

Efficient rehabilitation of the quadriceps femoris muscle in convalescence is the cornerstone of full recovery after immobilization and surgery of the knee. A wide variety of kinesitherapeutic protocols have been described and used in order to ensure the athlete's rapid return to sports. The aim of this study was to investigate whether protein supplementation in the diet after arthroscopic surgery of the knee and during the application of a complete kinesitherapeutic programme is beneficial to the patient. A total of 56 patients, all competitive soccer players, were recruited for the study. Of these, 47 had undergone arthroscopic surgery for meniscal repair and 7 for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. They were randomized into two groups of 28 patients each - experimental (EG) and control (CG). Identical kinesitherapeutic protocols were applied to both groups. All the patients received a similar standard diet; in addition to this diet, the EG patients received 1 g/kg/day of high-quality milk and egg-protein supplement (90.5% protein content). Kinesiological evaluation of the knee joint condition was carried out by myotonometry (MTM) of the quadriceps muscle, thigh circumference (TC) measurement, range of motion in the knee joint, and manual muscle testing (MMT) on the injured and uninjured limb before and after the experiment. Statistical analysis was performed by employing the Student's t-test (data were presented as mean±SD). At the end of the experiment the injured leg TC was closer to the uninjured leg TC in the EG patients (47.16±2.12 vs. 47.57±2.63 cm, p>0.05) than to that in the controls (46.70±2.52 vs. 48.38±2.78 cm, p0.05) than to those of the control group patients (88.78±7.66 vs. 115.86±4.39 units, p