ACL Tear Prevention Exercises for Young Athletes
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are very common in young athletes. As with anything, we don't have to accept that an ACL tear will be a part of a young athlete's career.
Instead, let's discuss 3 exercises any athlete can implement into their warm-up routine to help with ACL tear prevention. Because let's face it: young athletes only have a finite amount of time on the field/court and ideally, that time is not spent recovering from an ACL tear.
This blog will give you three ACL injury prevention exercises that young athletes can complete as a warm-up before they practice or play so that they can prep their bodies for movement as well as options for sports physiotherapy treatment at Cadence Physiotherapy, located in Scarborough, Ontario.
ACL tear background— prevalence and consequences
We know that not all ACL tears are preventable. We also know that they occur, many times, in non-contact sports. Injuries most often occur in sports that involve pivoting, cutting, and quick deceleration and are more common in female athletes (Frobell et al. 2017). You may be thinking that with something so unpredictable, it can be hard to say what the root cause is for the many ACL tears that we see.
Athletes should focus on preparing their bodies to prevent ACL tears. They can do this by improving strength, flexibility, and stability as they grow.
Understanding the ACL
The ACL is one of four ligaments in the knee joint and its purpose is to stop the forward movement of the lower leg bone (the tibia) on the upper leg bone (the femur) at the point of the leg where they meet (the knee) and provides about 90% of the stability for this directional movement — in short: it's super important.
Why ACL Prevention Exercises
The goal of ACL prevention exercises is to target the muscles around the knee itself as well as above and below the knee to improve the overall strength and stability of the joint as well as overall balance, stability, agility, and neuromuscular control (which is the ability of our body to know how to optimize our movement with subtle changes to maintain controlled movement).
Three exercises to incorporate into your warm-up:
Three exercises we like to incorporate as a part of a warm-up and strength routine include the following:
Single-leg lateral ski hops
Reverse lunges
Kickstand deadlifts
These three exercises will help address dynamic stability and strength.
For best results, include more than just these three exercises in a progressive overload program. What we are focusing on here is a brief dynamic warm-up routine for young athletes to do before practice or games. However, for now, let's concentrate on a brief dynamic warm-up routine that young athletes can perform before practice or games.
It's very important to know that doing more does not mean it is better. We always want to consider adding repetitions slowly and we don't want to overdo it.
Lateral ski hops
Start by standing on one leg. You're going to hop sideways by pushing off with the leg you're standing on and landing on the other leg. Once you land you'll hop back to the other leg by hopping sideways in the other direction. So if you start on your right leg, you will jump to the left and land on your left leg and vice versa. Throughout the exercise, always keep your head and body facing forward.
Do 20 reps total, 10 each side.
The goal is to maintain control throughout this exercise, you don't want to jump so far that you lose control, which can look like falling, letting your standing knee cave inward, or needing to hop around to recover your balance once you land. Hopping farther to the side is only beneficial if you maintain control.
It's also more ideal to hold for 1-2 seconds once you land before rebounding back to the other side. Faster is not better.
Reverse lunges
While standing on your right leg, reach backward with your left leg, let your right knee bend down until your left knee almost touches the ground. You will end in a position that closely resembles a half kneeling position. Push through your right foot (the front foot) to return to standing.
Repeat 10x on each side.
While performing the reverse lunges, you should feel like the front of your legs (your quadriceps) and your glutes are working. Perform the repetitions at a steady, slow pace. This helps us stay in control and ensures that our knee stays aligned with our foot. This also helps us avoid the knee from collapsing inward during the movement.
Kickstand deadlifts
To strengthen our hamstrings, it can be great to do some kickstand deadlifts as a warm-up.
Stand one one foot with all of your weight and then gently touch the ground with the toes of your other foot so that you can maintain balance. With a slight bend in your knees, bend forward to reach toward the ground while keeping your spine in a neutral position (do not arch or round your back like a cat or camel) once you feel tension in the backs of your legs, squeeze your glues to return to the standing position.
The leg that should feel like it's working is the standing leg, not the balancing leg.
Perform 1 set of 10-12 reps.
These exercises are a good place to start for the prevention of ACL tears. They can improve control, stability, and strength. They can also help prepare the body before athletes start practicing or playing in a game.
Ideally, we include athletes in a strength program tailored to their sport. This helps them become better prepared and build sport-specific strength and control.
We cannot guarantee that an ACL tear will be prevented. However, we can focus on building the strength of young athletes. We can also work on improving their balance and stability.
If you are looking for a comprehensive strength program that can turn over all the stones and help maximize the necessary components of strength, stability, balance, and control for young athletes, we'd love to help you. Contact us today to learn more.
At Cadence Physiotherapy, we have specific sports performance physiotherapy treatment that can help you excel in your sport and rehab you back onto the field/court after injury.
Next on your reading list:
Reference:
Frobell w, & Cooper R, & Morris H, & Hutchinson M Acute knee injuries. Brukner P, & Clarsen B, & Cook J, & Cools A, & Crossley K, & Hutchinson M, & McCrory P, & Bahr R, & Khan K(Eds.), Brukner & Khan’s Clinical Sports Medicine: Injuries, Volume 1, 5e. McGraw-Hill Education.
