ACL tears are some of the most devastating injuries in all of sports. You most likely will need surgery. You will need months of rehab. You will miss the rest of the season, and maybe some of the season after that. And you will miss time with your teammates. An ACL prevention program could help.

Would you do 10 or 15 minutes of exercises each day if you could decrease your risk of that injury and all that comes with it? Or would you have your kids who play sports do these exercises?

One of the key factors involved in ACL injuries is an athlete’s neuromuscular control. That’s a fancy way of saying that the muscles of the hip, thigh and knee fire appropriately to stabilize the knee when she lands from a jump or plants the foot to change direction. If your son or daughter has poor muscle strength and neuromuscular control, then the risk of an ACL injury in sports can be fairly high.

Also read:
ACL prevention in young athletes: An interview with Lindsay DiStefano
ACL tear: ACL prevention programs

Fortunately, exercise programs can teach athletes how to overcome these obstacles. They have been shown to decrease the rates of these knee injuries. In this video, I discuss what the programs involve and who should consider doing them.