Damage to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is becoming one of the most dominant sports-related injuries in young athletes today. The all too common ACL tear is most prevalent for athletes playing impact sports or sports that require the feet to be planted with quick changes of direction. Such sports include soccer, football, skiing, and basketball. A sharp change in direction such as cutting, twisting of the knee, or poor landing technique are all familiar pre-ACL tear incidences. The most common non-contact maneuver to cause an ACL tear is a deceleration movement with internal torque of the knee and an external rotation of the body (3).
The likelihood of an ACL tear in female athletes is even greater than for males. Approximately 38,000 female athletes tear their ACL annually, giving women a 4-6 fold increased risk in tearing their ACL over males (1). Three factors that predispose females to ACL tears are ligament dominance, quadriceps dominance, and leg dominance. These imbalances tend to put more stress on joints in females, especially an increase in lower extremity joint load. If left unattended, these imbalances greatly affect dynamic knee stability, which is key to the prevention of an ACL tear.
Training techniques used to prevent ACL injuries for female athletes address these imbalances. They must incorporate neuromuscular training that is dynamic and sport-specific. Clay Performance Training incorporates this kind of strength regimen to reduce the risk of ACL injuries in young athletes. One technique used for all athletes is single leg balance work. Inequality in leg strength can create imbalance and overreliance on one leg adds stress to that particular knee. Working dominant and non-dominant legs in strength, agility, and flexibility is crucial. It is important to specifically work to strengthen females’ hamstrings, as most females have dominant quadriceps strength. Quadriceps dominance means less knee flexion and more pull on the tibia, which causes stress on the ACL (1).
Another technique used is training athletes how to cut and change direction properly. Three simple cutting techniques used are rehearsed patterned cutting, random cutting, and jumping with cutting (2). Enabling athletes to be efficient in their change of direction reduces the risk of injury due to poor body positioning that can overload the knee joint.
One last technique Clay Performance Training provides for ACL injury prevention is landing technique. Vertical jumps, broad jumps, and tuck jumps can all be used to train athletes in proper landing technique (1). Training with repetition allows athletes to develop a body awareness that they can then apply to game-like scenarios as they occur, further reducing the risk of injury.
It is never too early to prevent injuries that could keep an athlete out of competition for up to a year. ACL injuries are becoming more and more common and are an injury that can be avoided with proper training.
Meyer, Ford, Hewitt, (2004). Rationale and clinical techniques for anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention among female athletes. Journal of Athletic Training.
Three Simple Cutting Techniques, Lee Taft, Train Smart, August 23, 2012.
Alentorn-Geli, Myer, Silvera, Samitier, Romero, Lazero-Haro, Cugat (2009). Prevention of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries in soccer players,.
