| This is a follow up to my article on ACL Injury | | | | perfect squat jumps keeping good knee alignment |
| Prevention - The First Step. Once you have | | | | and after the third jump immediately accelerate |
| mastered the basic movement patterns from that | | | | approximately ten meters. You goal is to accelerate |
| article, you are ready to progress. Do you know | | | | and then use your legs to quickly decelerate your |
| anyone who has torn their ACL? Have you ever | | | | body over the last 2-3 meters so you come to a |
| seen someone tear their ACL? What were they | | | | complete stop at the ten meter point. Remember |
| doing accelerating or decelerating? If they were | | | | that your knees should not be caving in when you |
| jumping were they taking off or landing? Where they | | | | decelerate, nor should they remain straight and rigid. |
| running in a straight line or planting to cut? I can | | | | You should be absorbing the force with the muscles |
| guarantee you they were not jumping, accelerating | | | | of your legs and hips. Perform 5-10 repetitions |
| or running in a straight line. Active ACL injuries (the | | | | Lateral Cone Hop Have the athlete stand beside a |
| kind that occur without anyone or anything colliding | | | | small cone (3-6" in height). Ask them to jump |
| with the athlete) are deceleration injuries. So the next | | | | sideways over the cone absorbing the landing impact |
| step is teaching the soccer, football, rugby or | | | | with their hips, knees and ankles each time. Look for |
| basketball player to decelerate using those nice hip, | | | | perfect landing mechanics again. If the athletes' knees |
| knee and ankle mechanics they developed in the first | | | | are angling inward or they are landing without their |
| part of this article series. Try the following exercises. | | | | heels ever touching the ground, then they have not |
| If you are a sport coach, then incorporate them into | | | | perfected the drill. Once the drill is perfected, then |
| your warm up. | | | | you may add an acceleration/deceleration component |
| Squat jump - Accelerate - Decelerate Begin with 3 | | | | to this drill. Perform 3-5 repetitions. |