Single-item 0–10 scale rating sport/work activity level.
The Tegner Activity Scale is a single-item, 11-point ordinal scale (0–10) that grades a patient's level of physical activity, from sick leave or disability at the bottom to national or international competitive sport at the top. It was developed alongside the Lysholm knee score to capture activity demand in patients with knee ligament injury, since two patients with identical knee function can place very different loads on that knee depending on their sport or occupation.
Knowing where a patient sits on the scale before injury and where they sit now shapes the return-to-sport conversation: it tells you whether a good knee outcome score actually translates into the patient resuming their prior demands, or whether they have quietly downgraded to a lower-risk activity level. It also gives a shared, quick reference point for goal-setting with the patient and for communicating expectations to coaches, surgeons, or insurers.
In practice it is a one-question interview or self-report, asking the patient to select the single grade that best matches their current activity, then repeating this for their pre-injury level for comparison. It is typically used alongside patient-reported outcome measures such as the Lysholm or IKDC, and alongside limb symmetry index and hop testing, so that subjective activity level is triangulated against objective functional performance.
Because it is a single ordinal item rather than a multi-item questionnaire, it has coarse resolution and limited responsiveness, particularly at the higher grades used by elite or highly active athletes, where meaningful changes in function may not shift the score at all. It is also subject to recall bias when patients estimate pre-injury activity retrospectively, and a returned Tegner grade alone does not confirm safe biomechanics or readiness for sport — it should be interpreted alongside strength, hop, and psychological readiness measures rather than as a standalone discharge criterion.
This guide was auto-drafted and is pending editorial review.