How to Prevent ACL Injuries
December 21 2008
ACL injuries are the most common knee injuries and ACL injury prevention studies have shown a reduction of ACL injuries from 60% to 80%. This has been shown in male and female athletes from various sports and across different age groups.
A ACL Injury Mechanism
K Key elements of ACL injury prevention program
Now let’s see the key elements of an ACL injury prevention program based on the latest studies.
Technique
1. Proper landing technique: Landing softly on the forefoot and rolling back to the rearfoot, emphasizing knee and hip flexion on landing and with lateral (cutting) manoeuvres. Two-feet landing is encouraged where possible & they should aim to achieve the “knee over toe position.
2. Proper deceleration & cutting: Rounded cut manoeuvre instead of a sharp or more acute angle during the cut. One step stop deceleration pattern should be avoided and replaced with a three-step quick stop
3. Avoiding excessive “caving in” at the knee: Keeping the knee feet in a straight line when landing and squatting as shown in the pic. The angled knee & feet line shows the wrong way.
Strength & Power: Intervention programmes should focus on increasing hamstring, gluteus medius and hip abductor strength with neuromuscular training, plyometrics, and agility exercises.
Identify Players at Risk:The drop vertical jump test should be used to identify players at risk. Athletes who land with caving in knee motion should perform neuromuscular training before sports participation.
Figure: Subjects were instructed to drop off the box (31 cm) and immediately perform a maximal vertical jump for 3 repetitions.
P PEP Program
In 1999 the ACL “PEP Program: Prevent injury and Enhance Performance” was developed in Santa Monica, California. This ACL prevention program consists of warm-up, stretching, strengthening, plyometrics and sport-specific agilities.
The benefits of PEP for ACL injury prevention are:
Cost effective: On-field warm-up program that requires only traditional soccer equipment (cones and soccer ball).
Time: It’s done 2-3 times a week over the course of the 12-week soccer season and is 20 min in duration.
Adherence: The programme is designed as a warm-up, hence adherence rates are higher and the element of neuromuscular fatigue does not affect the performance of the therapeutic exercises
Evidence-Based: Scientifically proven to dramatically reduce ACL injuries in women soccer players.
You can learn more about the PEP program and download a copy of PEP Program. The PEP was developed for scoccer players, but it can me modified according to your sport.
