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Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are one of the most common debilitating knee injuries, usually leaving sufferers with a 9+ month rehabilitation process following surgical intervention (11,18,24). Most ACL ruptures are seen within sporting activities that involve landing, cutting pivoting and change of direction at speed, with the majority of injuries occurring around 16-35 years of age (22,24). To date, there has been limited research on rehabilitation recommendations from the time period of injury occurrence through to the stages of return to play. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review the current literature surrounding ACL injuries and provide a clear, systematic, evidenced based return to play protocol that practitioners can easily adhere to. A systematic search of the literature was conducted prior to May 2017 with studies requiring to meet the following search criteria: 1) Human participants, 2) Research published since 2003, 3) Full text articles, 4) anterior cruciate ligament injuries only, 5) surgery intervention, 6) hamstring and/or patella grafts. A total of 19 articles were used within the literature review. The review assessed graft selection, acute, mid and end stage rehabilitation protocols, with return to play assessment. The main findings of this investigation suggest a minimum 7-month rehabilitation period, the use of either a hamstring or patella tendon graft as well as having quadriceps and hamstring strength above 85% compared to the contralateral side, with the individual tolerating sport specific activities at maximal duration and speed before returning to play. These specific protocols are required to be adhered to by strength and conditioning practitioners in order to successfully rehabilitate anterior cruciate ligament injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]