1 Before you use it
What it is
A single graded activity-level scale from 0 (sick leave or disability) to 10 (competitive national-level football, rugby or similar).
It is context, not outcome — a knee score means something different in a level-2 patient and a level-9 one.
When to reach for it
Every ligament and meniscal knee, at the first visit — record pre-injury and current — and at each return-to-sport decision.
Patterns it serves · 3
2 Giving it
Scoring
One number, 0–10. Record pre-injury level and current level. The gap between them is the information.
What it doesn’t measure
Symptoms, function or readiness. It says what they do, not how the knee is.
Repeat it
3 Reading the score
Interpreting it
Pre-injury Tegner is the return-to-sport target, and stating it at the first session makes the goal concrete for both of you.
Is the change real?
On placement
ACL injury, non-operative pathway. Pre-injury Tegner 7 (recreational football). Current level 3 at intake, 4 at 12 weeks.
Read it as 1 level up, the verified MCID (measured in knee surgery cohorts). It is an ordinal scale — a step from 3 to 4 is not the same distance as 6 to 7 — and the information is the gap to the pre-injury 7.
Do state the pre-injury level as the target at session one and keep it in every review. Three levels to go.
Student trap. Recording only the current level. Without the pre-injury level you have no target.
Official source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. We don't host the form.
This is a learning tool. It does not diagnose patients and does not replace your clinical educator.
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CliniStudy is in beta. One tap is enough — it decides what gets fixed first.