Tips to Minimize Your Risk of ACL Injury
Preventing ACL injury saves an athlete from physical trauma, an interrupted sports season, and intensive rehabilitation. ACL injuries are most common in sports that involve pivoting, landing, and sudden changes in direction, causing a strain or tearing of the ACL. Sports medicine physical therapists can design ACL injury prevention programs for athletes that include strengthening exercises, balance and agility drills, and jumping and landing technique training. Check out our tips to minimize your risk of ACL injury!
What is an ACL Injury?
The ACL is a ligament that runs diagonally across the deep center of the knee and stabilizes the knee, particularly for rotational movements. The ACL originates at the anterior base of the tibia and extends posteriorly to the femur.
ACL injuries commonly occur in sports that involve pivoting, landing, cutting, and sudden changes in direction, such as in football, soccer, basketball, and skiing. An ACL injury can involve a strain or a tear of the ACL ligament and often occurs in two ways: direct contact or non-contact injury. A direct contact injury occurs when the knee receives a direct blow from another person or object. A non-contact ACL injury occurs when pivoting, cutting, twisting, or landing on the knee during sports activity.
An ACL tear is a serious injury that requires lengthy rehabilitation, particularly following ACL reconstruction surgery. Symptoms of an ACL tear include bruising, swelling, feeling of popping in the knee, reduced range of motion and strength in the knee, and a feeling of less stability in the knee.
Nearly 150,000 people are affected by an ACL sprain or tear each year, the majority of whom are athletes. Despite surgical repair of the ACL, research has shown that 70% of individuals who have ACL reconstructive surgery will develop knee osteoarthritis and 20% will reinjure the ACL within two years. The majority (80%) of ACL injuries are non-contact injuries and female athletes are 4 to 6 times more likely to experience an ACL injury than male athletes. Given these statistics, taking steps to prevent ACL injury and re-tear is essential.
Tips to Minimize ACL Injury Risk
By minimizing and preventing ACL injury, you can avoid the physical trauma of injury, intensive rehabilitation, and an interrupted sports season. The rate of ACL tears has increased, likely related to the intensity of youth sports and early specialization of sports in younger athletes and due to the young athlete’s skeletal immaturity and reduced knee strength. Engaging in ACL injury prevention is critical to minimize a young athlete’s risk of injury. Research shows that ACL prevention programs resulted in an injury risk reduction of 52% in female athletes and 85% in male athletes.
6 tips to minimize ACL injury risk:
Always engage in a proper warm-up and stretching prior to physical activity. Warming up promotes blood flow and activates muscles to improve mobility and movement during competition. Cold muscles are more prone to injury. Loosen up your muscles with static and dynamic stretching.
Engage in targeted strength training. Strengthening the lower extremities, as well as the core and hip musculature, are key for good leg and knee control. Strengthening the small muscles of the foot and ankle provides additional stability to the knee. Strengthening the hamstrings and quadriceps are also essential as these muscle groups work together to bend and straighten the leg and knee.
Practice balance, agility, and stability drills. Performing balance, agility, and stability drills are critical as non-contact ACL injuries often occur when pivoting and making quick changes in direction. Both static and dynamic balance training is important; dynamic balance drills are crucial as it allows individuals to learn to control the leg while planted on the ground with movement elsewhere.
Train for safe jumping and landing techniques. It is essential to prevent the knee from angling inward when landing, which can aggravate and injure the ACL. When landing after a jump, bending your knees is important to reduce pressure on the leg and knee. Ensure that the knees face forward and are aligned with the hips and an upright upper body. Land softly on the balls of the feet and roll back onto the heel.
Use the correct type of athletic footwear with proper cushioning and support. Poorly fitting shoes can affect balance and cause twists and awkward movements that can shock your knee joint and contribute to ACL injury.
Work with a sports medicine physical therapist for prevention, ACL rehabilitation, and return to sport testing. Physical therapists evaluate an athlete’s strength and movement patterns and design a customized exercise and strengthening program to address weak muscle areas and improve balance, agility, and stability. At Mangiarelli Rehabilitation, our sports medicine physical therapists specialize in ACL rehabilitation and provide thorough return-to-sport testing to ensure the athlete can safely return to sport.
