acl tear prevention for athletes
Alyssa Drouin, LAT, ATC, CSCS
Whether you're a current athlete or former athlete, we’ve all heard of the dreaded ACL tear. We often hear about a teammate or friend tearing their ACL and knowing there will be a long road ahead. Going through the surgery process, physical therapy, and returning back to play can be a long, difficult process. What we often don’t hear about is how we can prevent this from happening in the first place. There are many different factors that can go into preventing an ACL tear from happening.
To start- What is the ACL?
The ACL stands for the Anterior Cruciate Ligament which is in the middle of the knee. The main function of the ACL is to prevent the shin bone from sliding onto the thigh bone. The ACL can be injured or torn in a number of different ways. The most common mechanism is sudden pivoting or cutting maneuver during sporting activity, which is commonly seen in football, basketball and soccer. The ligament can also tear during a head on collision in sport, due to a work injury, or in an automobile accidents. In some cases, ACL tears cannot be avoided. But in certain cases, giving the knee as much stability as possible can prevent a tear from happening! So, how do we give the knee the best chance possible?
First step: A proper warm up is key before working out!
You can start with a light jog to warm your muscles up, for anywhere from 2-5 minutes. Elevating your heart rate prior to activity can help improve blood flow to the areas you will be working. From there a dynamic warm up is important to allow your muscles to prepare for the movement ahead. A dynamic warm up consists of stretches that move you through the joints full range of motion. Here’s a few of our favorites:
Cradle Walk
Front Swings
Lunge with torso turn
Plank walkouts
Click here to watch these four dynamic stretches!
After your dynamic warmup, movement preparation is also key. Movement in different planes of motion to mimic sport specific movements can help prevent injury! Some examples are:
Lateral shuffling: Start facing laterally between two cones. Shuffle your feet from one cone to the next. This will warm up your hips and lower body, and allow your joints to prepare for lateral movement patterns.
Cutting Drills: Place cones in a diagonal pattern and move in a Z pattern from one cone to the next. This will mimic on the field movements and directional changes!
Broad Jumps: Start in a low squat position. As you bring your arms forward, push yourself up off the ground into a jump. Land with your toes first, then move back into a squat.
Second Step: Strengthening exercises are important to implement into a prevention program as well. Though the ACL is inside the knee, strengthening the musculature and joints around will help prevent a tear. The stronger the muscles, and the more stability through the joint the higher the chance your body will be able to fight the mechanism of injury. Here are some examples below of strengthening exercises we recommend! All of the exercises have YouTube demonstrations and cueing attached!
Quads:
Hamstrings:
Glutes and Hips:
Ankle:
Still struggling with your ACL rehab or prevention? Here’s how Fixxed can help!
Dry Needling: We can use dry needling to enhance muscle recruitment and make sure we have proper muscles firing, and releasing trigger points through tight muscles. Some areas needled would be; quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, and glutes.
Graston: This can assist in breaking up any scar tissue surrounding the area. This may be in the knee, quads, or hamstrings. Graston can also be used on the calves or the foot to enhance proper walking mechanics that will lead to proper running mechanics.
Assisted Stretching: Making sure we stretch properly is key! Tight hamstrings, glutes, and hips can lead to further injury. We can thoroughly assess and stretch those areas that may be restricted to allow for proper movement through the musculature and joints.
