Daily Step Program and Knee Cartilage After Knee Ligament Surgery
Tests a step program in people after knee ligament surgery.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- University of Georgia
- Where
- Athens, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Steps Towards Osteoarthritis Prevention
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 56 people, planned
- Started
- 23 Sept 2024
- Expected to end
- 30 Jan 2028
- Type of study
- Interventional
- Treatments tested
- Adaptive Daily Step Promotion
- Record updated
- 29 April 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for people who had knee surgery to rebuild the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and who take few daily steps. They will try a program that encourages more daily walking.
- Age
- 16 Years to 40 Years
- Sex
- All sexes can join.
- Disease stage
- ACL reconstruction surgery done 6-60 months before joining. A doctor must have cleared you for unrestricted activity.
- Earlier treatment
- You must have finished all formal physical therapy and exercise programs for the ACL surgery. No other formal therapy for it during the study.
- Biomarker or test result
- Fewer than 8,000 steps per day during screening, measured with the Actigraph Link monitor.
Main reasons for not taking part
- A repeat ACL surgery because the earlier ACL graft was injured, or surgery on several ligaments, or a leg fracture during the ACL injury
- A diagnosed joint disease in either knee, such as knee osteoarthritis or inflammatory arthritis
- Being pregnant or planning pregnancy in the next 4 months
- Body mass index (BMI) ≥ 36 kg/m2
- Things that block an MRI scan: metal in the body, pacemaker, cochlear implant, fear of closed spaces, or history of seizures
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 20 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Provision of signed and dated informed consent form
- For children, signed and dated informed assent by child and parental permission form by parent/guardian to participate in the study
- Underwent an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) between 6-60 months prior to enrollment
- Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and lifestyle considerations and availability for the duration of the study
- Completed all other formal physical therapy and therapeutic exercise regimens, and will not be engaging in any other formal therapy for their ACLR during the study
- Physician clearance for unrestricted activity
- Owning a smartphone
- Demonstrate < 8,000 steps per day during the screening phase of aim 2 as assessed using the Actigraph Link monitor
Who cannot take part
- Underwent an ACLR revision surgery due to a previous anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) graft injury
- A multiple ligament surgery was indicated with their ACL injury
- The participant has previously been diagnosed with any diseases that affect joints is present in either knee including knee osteoarthritis inflammatory arthritis
- Cochlear implant
- History of seizures
- A lower extremity fracture was suffered during the ACL injury
- Pregnant or plans to become pregnant over next 4 months
- Body mass index (BMI) ≥ 36 kg/m2
- Unable to speak English
- Metal in body (metal fragments, shrapnel, permanent make-up, body piercings that cannot be removed)
- Claustrophobia
- Pacemaker
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 16 and 40 years old?
Where in United States
- University of GeorgiaAthens, United StatesContact: Caroline Lisee, PhDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Optimal knee joint loading, which refers to the forces acting on the knee caused by daily activities such as daily steps, plays an essential role in maintaining knee articular cartilage health and reducing the risk of osteoarthritis (OA). After anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), individuals take fewer daily steps as compared to uninjured controls resulting in insufficient knee joint loading to joint tissues, but it is unclear how changes in daily steps impact knee joint cartilage health in OA development. Therefore, the overall single arm, longitudinal pre-test post-test study objective is to determine the mechanistic links between knee joint loading as measured by daily steps and comprehensive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of knee joint cartilage health post-ACLR. The central hypothesis is that individuals post-ACLR who take low daily steps will demonstrate deconditioned, less resilient cartilage characterized by poor tibiofemoral cartilage composition and greater cartilage strain.
The group in the trial
- Interventional GroupTreatment being tested
Participants who meet study criteria and are enrolled in adaptive daily step promotion intervention
Treatment: Adaptive Daily Step Promotion
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Steps Towards Osteoarthritis Prevention: A Pilot Study
- Plain-language title
- Daily Step Program and Knee Cartilage After Knee Ligament SurgeryGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 14 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT06193343, who can take part
- Record updated
- 29 April 2026