ACL Injury – An Introduction
Anterior Cruciate Ligament or in short ACL, stabilizes knees by connecting the femur or the thighbone to the tibia or the shinbone.
ACL or Anterior Cruciate Ligament is most commonly injured when one is playing sports. This happens when one plays sports like Football, Basketball, Soccer, and Downhill Skiing. The injury happens when the players jump, suddenly stop, and change directions. The injury leads to an audible crack, painful sensation, and swelling of the knee joint.
How To Prevent An ACL Injury –
- Strength Training –
The ACL injury can be prevented if one strengthens the muscles surrounding the knee like the Quadriceps, Hamstrings, and the Gluteal muscles.
The Quadriceps can be strengthened with the help of exercises like knee extensions, squats leg presses, or lunges.
If you want to strengthen the Hamstrings then one should opt for exercises like Nordic hamstring exercises, hamstring curls, deadlifts / single leg deadlifts and lying stability ball hamstring curls, etc.
One can also strengthen the Gluteal muscles by various exercises such as clam exercise and side-lying hip abduction etc.
- Practice Proper Jumping and Landing Technique –
The athlete should practice proper jumping and landing techniques with the help of correct biomechanics. The athlete can get in touch with the coach and get feedback on how to use the techniques properly.
You should keep in mind that when you are landing, the knee should remain in a straight line above the middle toe or slightly pointed outwards away from each other. The knees should not travel inwards towards each other as this will put stress on the ACL. A slight bend in the knees and the hips is necessary when one is landing. One should try to land in a controlled manner and keep in mind that more weight should be put on the forefoot than on the heels.
- Plyometric Training –
Plyometric training incorporates the use of high-intensity agility drills which will help in improving the footwork by speed and power. These agility drills include stop and start, quick sprints, cutting, lateral movements, and jumping.
How Often Should The Exercises Be Performed and The Ideal Time When One Should Begin The Exercises –
It is worthwhile to know that the ACL prevention program can help in preventing injury if it is undertaken at least 6 weeks before one engages in any high-intensity sporting activity. A training session should last for about 15 – 30 minutes and it should be done three times a week. This program can be effectively used as a warm up before beginning any sporting activity.
Finding ACL Prevention Programs –
You can check out the FIFA 11 + injury prevention programs as they are considered to be the best for helping you to prevent ACL injuries.
If you want to strengthen the muscles of your legs then you should practice jumping and landing techniques and train your agility skills which will go a long way in helping you to minimize the risk to your knees when undertaking any sporting activity.
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