ACL 重建术后的运动恐惧：一项基于 Reddit 叙事的定性网络民族志研究

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Sport Psychology

Abstract

Kinesiophobia, broadly defined as fear of movement and vulnerability to (re)injury, is one of the most significant psychological barriers to functional recovery following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, and its everyday, lived texture is not fully captured by structured psychometric instruments alone. Orthopedic clinicians frequently observe that patients who have achieved objective surgical and functional recovery nonetheless remain reluctant to resume movement, suggesting that psychological factors beyond mechanical healing shape recovery. To explore this phenomenon in patients' own words, we conducted a qualitative netnographic study analyzing 50 first-person Reddit narratives shared by individuals with ACL injury, spanning the full rehabilitation trajectory from preoperative anxiety to chronic post-return instability, using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. Three interconnected themes emerged. First, a progressive loss of trust in the injured body, in which normal postoperative sensations were hypervigilantly monitored and catastrophically reinterpreted as signs of graft failure, a pattern that persisted even after objective strength testing and medical clearance for activity. Second, fear-driven disruption of functional identity and future planning, in which reinjury fear extended beyond the knee itself to threaten occupational continuity, financial security, and core aspects of physical self-concept. Third, persistent uncertainty and compulsive reassurance-seeking, fueled by inconsistent rehabilitation guidance and unfavorable social comparison with peers' recovery timelines on social media. These findings indicate that psychological readiness for return to activity is shaped by an interacting network of bodily, identity-related, and informational factors that extend well beyond fear of reinjury as traditionally measured. For orthopedic and rehabilitation teams, the results underscore the value of incorporating expectation management, structured reassurance, and psychologically informed communication into postoperative care protocols. They further suggest that naturally occurring online narratives may serve as an ecologically valid source of insight for future research into the psychological dimensions of ACL recovery, complementing structured psychometric assessment.

Keywords

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Biopsychosocial, Fear of movement, Kinesiophobia, Netnography, qualitative research, Rehabilitation psychology

Received

02 July 2026

Accepted

18 September 2026

Copyright

© 2026 Kahve, Darben Azarsız, Aydın, Aydın, Gurhan and Civan Kahve. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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