Accessibility & Translations
Fueling Recovery: Priming the Muscle for Rehabilitation After ACL Injury

Fueling Recovery: Priming the Muscle for Rehabilitation After ACL Injury

Only available as part of a package

Abstract:
The goal of this lecture is to reach clinicians and update the field with the latest understanding of the biological drivers of poor muscle recovery after ACL injury—evidence suggesting that persistent atrophy is not merely a consequence of reduced loading or neural inhibition, but rather the result of a dysfunctional metabolic environment within the muscle. This impaired environment appears to diminish the muscle’s capacity to respond to hypertrophic adaptive stimuli that would typically drive repair and growth.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the known barriers to quadriceps muscle atrophy after ACL injury, including disuse and neural inhibition.
  • Explain how mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are present after ACL injury, and how they likely contribute to anabolic resistance and limit muscle adaptation.
  • Consider endurance-like exercise not as a secondary add-on, but as a primary, biologically targeted strategy to restore muscle health and enhance responsiveness to strength training during ACL rehabilitation.

Level:
Essential

Domain(s):
Domain 4: Therapeutic Intervention

Orthopedic Domain(s):
N/A

Keywords:
Muscle atrophy; Oxidative stress; Exercise prescription

CEUs:
1.0 Category A

A Statement of Credit reflecting your CEUs will be issued immediately upon the successful completion of all course components. 


Course Expiration: 
All sessions of the NATA 77th Symposia On-Demand must be completed by December 31, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. CST.
For full details, refer to the expiration policy on our FAQ page.

Lindsey Lepley, PhD, ATC

Dr. Lindsey Lepley is an associate professor of Athletic Training, director of the Comparative Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Laboratory (CORL), and co-director of the Orthopedic Rehabilitation & Biomechanics Laboratory (ORB) at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. In 2014, she earned a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Michigan and subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Kentucky’s Center for Muscle Biology. Dr. Lepley took her first faculty position at the University of Connecticut and has been at the University of Michigan since 2019.

Dr. Lepley’s research program focuses on elucidating the mechanisms that regulate skeletal muscle strength, activation, and structure after traumatic joint injury to establish interventions that optimize muscle recovery. To advance clinical practice, her research group utilizes non-invasive animal injury models and human subject research to design, test, and translate new sports medicine strategies from conception to practice. This rare blend of scientific approaches empowers her lab to make fundamental discoveries about musculoskeletal health that can change rehabilitation.

This work has received several research awards and been selected for featured presentations at national and international scientific meetings. In 2018, Dr. Lepley was awarded a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. In 2022, Dr. Lepley translated key findings from her K01 award to R01 funding. Other notable accomplishments include the 2022 Dr. Freddie & Mrs. Hilda Pang New Investigator Award by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and the 2015 New Investigator Award by New England American College of Sports Medicine. 

Dr. Lepley has authored more than 50 research articles in peer-reviewed journals including the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Exercise and Sport Sciences Review, Frontiers in Physiology, Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Orthopaedic Research, and Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy.

This content will not be available until 07/31/2026 at 12:00 AM (CDT)