ACL injury prevention

Everybody wants to jump higher and run faster. I understand that because most game changing plays are determined by fractions of a second but ACL injuries continue to rise every year. ACL injuries can be one of the most devastating knee injuries yet they are so common. Even with advances in medicine about 25% of those that have ACL reconstruction will have a second ACL injury. That’s a 1 in 4 chance of reinjuring the same ACL.

Females have a 3 times greater risk than males in regards to ACL injuries. There is a lot that goes into why but that’s not the point of this blog. But the main reason is when the knees collapse or as we in the industry call valgus collapse or abducted position of the knee. This position is usually achieved during landing and cutting (deceleration phase of the cut). Now this knee collapse can be fixed by a coach who knows what they are doing. The poor neuromuscular control involved in landing and cutting can be modified through proper training.

This isn’t achieved with more jumping and sprinting but by coaching the landing and deceleration phase of running. Think of a club volleyball player who plays volleyball everyday of the year. Jumping, running, landing and cutting. Now if their movement patterns are wrong they end up practicing this improper pattern hundreds if not thousands of times a year. Your strength and conditioning coach needs to focus on sound running, jumping, deceleration and body mechanics and then strengthen these good patterns with properly progressed weight training.

Teaching the mechanics is crucial but without strengthening their body your child won't have the strength to maintain them under higher work loads.  Most facilities think that simply making a kid run around and get tired is good enough but we know that teaching these proper patterns is the key to preventing injury and increasing sporting performance. If your coach doesn’t work on any of this then I hate to break it to you but your child is just an ACL injury waiting to happen. Please understand that your child is at a critical time in their sporting career and from what I’ve heard from our Spot family parents is that other programs are not preparing children for their sport. Most of them just run kids through cones and ladders failing to address the important issues that really help children prevent injuries.

Don't wait get your child the coaching they deserve.

Coach B