Athletes and ACL's: Focus on Prevention

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

"Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn't assured". 

ACL tears are all too common and injury to female athletes outweigh their male counterparts 3:1. Unfortunately, coaches in women's sports have come to accept torn ACL's as part of life. Can we be doing more to prevent tears? Research says YES!

A 2000 study performed by Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, team physician at Pepperdine, indicated that neuromuscular training can prevent roughly three-quarters of ACL injuries

Plyometric exercises and neuromuscular training:
-->

Complex jumping and agility drills teaches athletes how to leap, plant, pivot and land properly. Legs should be bent upon landing, toes shouldn’t be pointed out and cuts should made with hips square, for instance.

A few years ago at the Final Four I ran into a company with a great selling point: why are we putting our female athletes in men's shoes? For our team, some of our ADIDAS shoes HAVE to be ordered in a men's shoe. Men and women's bodies are clearly different; the logic follows that shoe design should be unique to each sex. 

The shoe company, Nfinity, talks about the "Q Angle" which is the "alignment between the hip and knee joints". I think they might be on to something... look at their shoe here. 

Alan Stein, from strongerteam.com, has a preview on YouTube of one of his DVD's focusing on training to prevent ACL injuries:  

 

Just as we train our athletes for sport specific skills like shooting or passing, coaches should spend some time focusing on developing the athlete's bodies by strengthening their balance, increasing agilities and training correct body movement. Who knows, 8 minutes a day could save one of your athlete's 8 months of rehab!

plyometric exercises and neuromuscular training. This array of complex jumping and agility drills teaches athletes how to leap, plant, pivot and land properly. Legs should be bent upon landing, toes shouldn’t be pointed out and cuts should made with hips square, for instance.
A 2000 study performed by Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, team physician at Pepperdine, indicated that neuromuscular training can prevent roughly three-quarters of ACL injuries. Mandelbaum put more than 1,000 female high school soccer players in California on neuromuscular training regimens while a control group practiced normally. Only 0.2 percent of those who engaged in neuromuscular training tore ACLs, while 1.7 percent of the control group suffered the injury, an 88 percent difference. A year later, the same study was performed, yielding a 74 percent injury gap between those with and without the training.
- See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.EgRD4Xvb.dpuf

Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf

Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf

Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf

Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf

Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf

Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf