Simple Ways to Lower The Risk of ACL Tears

How are we going to stop this massacre? Nine! Nine ACL tears on one football team?

That’s crazy!

And you’re telling me that something is not wrong with how strength & conditioning coaches are programming for football players?

You cannot fall properly if you cannot bend.

These athletes need programming with movements that encourage a greater range of motion that specifically addresses the ankles, knees, hips, and shoulder girdles.

Football players like hockey players need programs with dynamic exercises where the ligaments and tendons stretch and recoil quickly.

As coaches, we need to look deeply into these complex systems to enhance the body’s ability to contract and relax as fast as possible.

Or, better yet, call it switching!

This is true injury prevention training.

Year after year of slow locomotive exercises, with a shortened range of motion movements that exacerbate tightness in the joint complex and muscles, will make athletes susceptible to injury.

Injury prevention training is not compartmentalizing every body part with bodybuilding exercises and slow movements.

The athlete must be progressively exposed to dynamic and explosive movements to lower the risk of ACL tears.

Full-body exercises where the ankle fully stretches and recoil to stabilize loads above the head will address suppleness, mobility, flexibility, and core strength in athletes’ complex system of muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

This type of approach to training will drastically lower the risk of injury in all sports.  And that’s a fact.

Nine ACL tears on one football team! In my mind, this is criminal.