Healthy ACL's and great Sports Performance!

The torn ACL is one of the most frightening injuries an athlete can suffer. Even when it doesn't end a career, the rehab time is long and arduous.

Luckily, athletes can avoid this debilitating injury by utilizing flexibility, joint stabilization and multi-directional movement exercises. Generally, we recommend a 3 phase "program" for this purpose. It's comprised of a proper warm-up, corrective and active stretching and functional exercise intended to improve knee stabilization and function.

It helps when we understand what the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is and how it works. Here is a short video that explains it:

Joints function in one or more of these three movement types:

1. Static, or stationary. In this state, there is little voluntary muscle movement, and structural load on the joint complex is low.

For the knee, this would be represented by standing on one or two legs with the knee(s) stiff. Obviously, this is a pretty easy job for the stabilizing muscles and connective tissue.

2. Transitional. The joint moves through a controlled range of motion (ROM) with a consistent load and predictable external factors. A good example of this for the knee is a 2 leg bodyweight squat or walking on a flat surface.

As long as movement speed is moderate, knee stabilization is fairly simple. As speed increases, or external loads are added (i.e., weights), the demand increases. This in turn increase the stabilization demand placed on the joint and it’s complexes.

3. Dynamic. When the joint functions in an environment where movement is 3 dimensional, rapidly changing and repeating, speeds are high and loads are heavy and/or variable, the stabilization demand curve is off the chart!

This is typical in a sports environment. High speed movement, high impact, sharp direction changes and physical contact create imposed demands on the stabilization system of a joint or joints that can overwhelm the system and allow serious injury to occur.

Think of a soccer player who makes a sharp cut with the ball, or who plants a foot to kick it. When she makes this high-impact movement, if the stabilization demand exceeds her capacity, her knee will collapse, most likely resulting in a catastrophic tear of one or more supporting ligaments.

All sports in which high speed starting, stopping and direction changes take place are home to these kinds of demands. So the question becomes; “Is the athlete prepared for movement in a dynamic, multi-directional, multi-speed environment in which conditions are constantly changing?”

The answer? Only if they've been training that way!

Do you have questions about this or any other Sports Fitness topic? Contact us at allstarsportsacademy @ gmail.com!

And don't forget, there's still time to enroll your baseball/softball players in our 2008 Toms River Little League Camp (July 23, 24 & 25) and the 2008 Manchester Little League Camp (August 11, 12 & 13!) Our Camps are the best...just click here and see what "Vanilla" said about our Black Sox Spring Break Camp!

Next up...warming up for performance!