What ’ s the Secret to Reducing ACL Injuries in Our Athletes ?
INJURY PREVENTION
What ’ s the Secret to Reducing ACL Injuries in Our Athletes ?
START YOUNGER !
Dr . Wendy LeBolt , PHD
If ACL injury prevention programs work … and they do , and If we ’ re diligently applying these programs with our teams … and coaches say we are , then WHY are we not seeing a reduction in ACL injuries in our players ?
In fact , they continue to climb . ACL reconstruction surgeries performed in the U . S . rose by 22 % from 2002 to 2014.3 As you can see below , this rise was particularly steep in 13 to 17 year olds ( yellow circles ), with females showing a much more rapid increase in rates than males .
And our collegiate , semi-pro and professional players are certainly not immune . I regularly communicate with coaches whose teams are doing all the right things to prevent ACL injuries and yet still have athletes sidelined with them . Not infrequently , these players are enduring this devastating injury for the second or third time .
Clearly , our current approach to ACL injury prevention is not doing enough to protect our young athletes .
So , what are we doing wrong ? I believe we are starting ACL injury prevention training too late .
By 13 years old — statistically , the age when kids enter the high-risk zone — most of our soccer-committed kids have already been playing for seven to eight years . Maybe more . They ’ ve spent season after season learning “ soccer moves ” and muscle-memorizing joint mechanics . Thus , by their early teens , movement patterns are highly ingrained , habitual and automatic . For some , unfortunately , these movement habits put their knees at greater risk for injury .
Consider this scenario : You are watching game video from your last match , but the players ’ faces are blurred , and no jersey numbers are visible : do you know which player is which ? Of course you do … by their moves , their decision-making , their signature style . All good , except … when these movement patterns may increase their risk for injury .
By the time these kids reach their mid-teens these “ bad habits ” are almost impossible to train out of them , even with our best injury prevention efforts .
To establish sound movement habits in our players , we need to start “ injury prevention training ” earlier , with kids in the younger age groups . U8s ( especially girls ) are not too young for this . Just blend it into the skill sessions you ’ re already doing . Make it part of the game and make it fun . Just don ’ t call it “ injury prevention ” training , 4 and don ’ t pile on5 to what these kids are doing already .
Here are your “ injury prevention ” movement objectives and progressions for each age-group . You ’ ll notice that they correspond to sport performance objectives as well .
• U8 : Coordination and body awareness
• U10 : Bilateral strength , coordination , balance , “ body learning ” and speed ; introduce a team warm up with sound feedback for healthy form
• U12 : Body control , agility , quickness , reaction time ; take dynamic warm-up seriously and use it as a diagnostic for coaching movement cues continued on page 37
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