

What is OPTIKNEE?
OPTIKNEE is an international consensus group focused on improving knee health and preventing osteoarthritis after a traumatic knee injury.
OPTIKNEE consists of clinician-scientists (physiotherapists, sports and exercise medicine physicians, orthopedic surgeons, kinesiologists), clinicians (physiotherapists), clinicians, and patients from Canada, Australia, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the United States.
OPTIKNEE is a “portmanteau’ word, or a word that results from blending two or more words, or parts of words. In this care, ‘Optimize’ and ‘Knee’.

The goals of OPTIKNEE are to:

Synthesize existing evidence related to traumatic knee injuries and post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis
To date, the OPTIKNEE group has conducted 7 systematic reviews:
- Long-term quality of life, work limitation, physical activity, economic cost and disease burden following ACL and meniscal injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis for the OPTIKNEE consensus
- Risk factors for knee osteoarthritis after traumatic knee injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies for the OPTIKNEE Consensus
- Rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament and meniscal injuries: A best-evidence synthesis of systematic reviews for the OPTIKNEE Consensus
- The effects of different management strategies or rehabilitation approaches on knee joint structural and molecular biomarkers following traumatic knee injury: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials for the OPTIKNEE Consensus
- Meaningful thresholds for patient-reported outcomes following interventions for anterior cruciate ligament tear or traumatic meniscus injury: a systematic review for the OPTIKNEE Consensus
- What tests should be used to assess functional performance in youth and young adults following anterior cruciate ligament or meniscal injury? A systematic review of measurement properties for the OPTIKNEE consensus
- Measurement properties for muscle strength tests following anterior cruciate ligament and/or meniscus injury: What tests to use and where do we need to go? A systematic review with meta-analyses for the OPTIKNEE consensus

Complete a consensus exercise to inform how to optimize knee health after a traumatic knee injury to prevent post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis
The OPTIKNEE 2022 Consensus is open-access and was published in the OPTIKNEE edition of the British Journal of Sports Medicine in December 2022

Develop clinical recommendations to guide rehabilitation to improve knee health and prevent osteoarthritis after a traumatic knee injury.
Clinical recommendations guide
- Who to target
- When to target
- What to target
- What to do
- What to monitor
- How to monitor
OPTIKNEE Clinical Recommendations: Language Translations

Develop research recommendations for best research practice and harmonizing outcomes to facilitate data synthesis to move the field of traumatic knee injury care and osteoarthritis prevention forward.
Research recommendations guide
- Best research practice
- Core outcomes to harmonize and facilitate data synthesis
OPTIKNEE Research Recommendations: Language Translations

Identify and prioritize knowledge gaps to move the field of traumatic knee injury care and osteoarthritis prevention forward.
Priority knowledge gaps
- Stakeholder engagement
- Future research

Engage with key stakeholder groups (patients, healthcare providers etc.) to ensure the relevance of the direction and any outputs
Evidence Synthesis
OPTIKNEE Steering Committee

Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia and Senior Research Scientist at Arthritis Research Canada, Vancouver, Canada

Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Knee Injury Group within the La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia

Associate Professor, Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Professor, Musculoskeletal Function and Physiotherapy and Center for Muscle and Joint Health, Department of Sports and Clinical Biomechanics at University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Professor and Director of the La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia
OPTIKNEE Members
Review Leads & Senior Authors
Consensus Members
