Top 5 exercises to cut your risk of ACL injury in HALF this pre-season
Banish your risk of ACL injury this summer and smash your sporting goals
It’s a fact: no one wants to spend the summer pre-season laid up on the couch binge watching re-runs of Friends when you should be out training and performing better for the upcoming football, netball or another sporting season. Did you know that ACL injury is the NUMBER ONE cause of time spent on the sporting side-line? And that’s across ALL sports. That’s a pretty significant reason to spend some time bullet-proofing your ACLs. The great news is that you can cut your risk of suffering through extended couch-time by 50% with these 5 exercises.
At the Injury Rehab Centre our Physiotherapists and Osteopaths regularly work with those from the Cheltenham, Moorabbin, Mentone, Highett, Hampton, Black Rock, Beaumaris and Heatherton suburbs to not only rehabilitate athletes after knee injury, but also ensure any future injuries are minimised.
Which 5 exercises should you be doing right now?
The best ACL prevention programs are based on 3 key areas:
Plyometrics – how well your body moves and deals with the forces from running, jumping, landing, and quickly changing direction.
Neuromuscular training – teaching your body to optimally send nervous system signals to improve the force and speed of muscle contractions, to improve your balance, and develop correct movement patterns for the most efficient performance possible.
Strength training – improving your ability to produce and handle increased loads, leading to greater injury prevention and athletic development.
Drumroll…. Here they are!
1. Reach and tap
3 rounds, taping in all directions
2. Single leg deadlift
Keep balancing knee fixed
Back flat
3. Box drop with counter-movement jump
3 repetitions
Absorb the landing
4. Drop and cut
Stick the landings
Bend through the hips, knees, ankles
5. Trap bar squat
Drive through legs
Keep back tight
Slide shoulder blades down (as if into back pockets), and hold there
With these 5 exercises, each of the 3 key areas is addressed, ensuring your risk of ACL injury is drastically reduced, keeping you on track to smash the 2018 season.
Why the Injury Rehab Centre is the place for ACL rehabilitation
At the Injury Rehab Centre our Physiotherapists and Osteopaths focus on the assessment and collection of actionable data using the latest technology to determine and reduce your risk of ACL injury previously only found in elite sporting institutions.
This includes:
M.A.T Assessment created by the therapists of the Injury Rehab Centre to laser focus on potential discrepancies or deficiencies of flexibility, balance and movement control that may predispose to ACL injury.
Slow Motion Video Analysis of how you move, land, and change direction TO FIND BAD HABITS that may predispose to knee injury.
Strength Testing to identify any strength discrepancies that have a huge effect on how well your muscles can protect your knee ligaments.
Force Plate Technology to put a number on the differences between each leg in the power you can generate for sporting performance and protection from injury.
Traditional Physiotherapy and Osteopathy examinations to identify any potential factors that may increase your risk of ACL injury
Next, our treatment process achieves pain relief in the shortest amount of time by using hands-on Physiotherapy and Osteopathy techniques such as soft tissue massage, joint manipulation, articulation and stretching techniques. This may include the use of the True Stretch system as well as Dry Needling and Taping techniques. Finally, your management plan will involve an individualised training plan to build your strength and capacity (muscle and tendon strength, stamina, specific flexibility) often to improve discrepancies from side to side that could be the true cause of potential knee injury.
For a limited time only, the Injury Rehab Centre is running a FREE initial consultation – no cost, no obligation – with one of our Physiotherapists or Osteopaths.
We know it’s risky if you have suffered a knee injury in making sure that you choose the right practitioner to look after your recovery. You don’t want to waste time, money and you want to get back to a full recovery as soon as possible. Our FREE initial consultation lets you decide if we are the right clinic for you and also lets us decide if we think we can help.
So don’t wait, get back to feeling better, moving better and performing better give us a call on 9553 7024 or book online at www.injuryrehab.com.au/bookings.