ABOUT ACL INJURIES

ACL injuries can be a devastating event, both physically and emotionally for a young athlete. Most ACL injuries require surgical repair, leading to a prolonged rehabilitation, decreased mobility, decreased sports participation, increased risk of reinjury and long term risk for osteoarthritis.

Rates of ACL injury in youth sports have been steadily increasing, with girls soccer players experiencing the highest risk of any sport (1.1% per year of playing for girls and 0.3% per year for boys). Multiple investigations have found that female athletes have approximately 3.5 times more ACL injuries than their male counterparts. This is thought to be due to various neuromuscular and anatomic differences, such as a wider angle between thigh and lower leg which can lead to more force being translated directly to the ACL, increased ligamentous laxity

and quadricep/hamstring imbalance.

The good news is there is now an extensive body of research which has demonstrated that a dedicated injury prevention program can decrease the rate of ACL injuries in athletes. Rates of injury reduction varies slightly between studies with an odds ratio ranging from 0.4 to 0.64, which represents roughly a 50% reduction.  The reduction has been seen with a wide variety of programs, with the greatest overall benefit seen in girls age 14-18.

ACL INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAM GOALS

• Increasing lower body strength
• Activating hip and gluteus muscle
• Correcting hamstring/quadricep imbalance
• Improving neuromuscular control through agility and balance exercises
• Promoting proper landing technique to avoid valgus (“knock-kneed”) position of the knee.