Understanding the psychological mechanisms of return to sports readiness after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Fear of re-injury and being relaxed about playing sport were the two most important nodes in the network models that describe the return to sport readiness. The importance of knee confidence at influencing psychological readiness was greater in athletes who did return to sport compared to those who did not. Our findings provide candidate therapeutic targets that could inform future interventions designed to optimize return to sport rates in athletes post ACL reconstruction.