Your Complete Guide to Recovering From an ACL Tear
You can't completely prevent a torn ACL, but you can reduce the incidence of non-contact injuries and re-injuries. When another athlete throws his body into yours, causing your knee to buckle and rotate, even the strongest muscles cannot absorb all the force before the torque reaches your ACL. However, many ACL injuries occur in isolation, when an athlete plants and pivots, lands wrong with one leg too far from his body, or puts on the brakes without being in a controlled body position.
With increased participation in adolescent competitive leagues, the incidence rate of these injuries has skyrocketed over the last decade. To combat this, injury prevention programs have popped up everywhere, from large performance centers to your local big box gym. They all prescribe similar exercises, addressing"agility," basic strengthening, and core work. But this is a sensitive population to work with, and many factors are overlooked in the design and implementation of these programs...
