The Aspetar Rectus Femoris Injury Rehabilitation Pathway.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate agreement and clinical acceptability among practitioners working in elite sport regarding a rectus femoris rehabilitation pathway for elite and high-level athletes.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey.

METHODS

Experienced rehabilitation clinicians from the Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital in Doha, Qatar, developed a rectus femoris rehabilitation pathway that comprised 8 sections: assessment, milestones, strength, motor control, explosiveness and reactive strength, running, kicking, and weekly schedule. Following an internal review, a draft of the pathway was distributed to practitioners who were attending the preconference workshop at the 2024 Aspetar International Rehabilitation Conference (n = 32). Participants rated agreement with key elements using a 5-point Likert scale (75% a priori threshold for high agreement). Survey responses (n = 27) were analyzed descriptively.

RESULTS

Overall agreement was high (89%), and disagreement was low (2%). The running section had the highest agreement (94%). The strength section had the lowest disagreement (0%). Weekly scheduling was the only section to not reach high agreement (67%), whereas explosiveness and reactive strength showed the highest disagreement (6%). These findings demonstrate high agreement with key components of a criteria-based, multifactorial rehabilitation pathway, while noting sport-specific and scheduling constraints.

CONCLUSION

High agreement was observed among practitioners, suggesting alignment with current practices in elite sport. JOSPT Open 2026;4(3):354-366. Epub 20 May 2026. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2026.0212.