Preventing ACL injury is something that every athlete has to be careful about. But is it about good training? The answer to that is yes. The injury estimates are about one hundred thousand ACL tears yearly. Of these, thirty thousand are found in females of high school age. It has been found that females are more at risk of an ACL tear than males.

Regardless of the injury in discussion, it is more prudent to speak of reduction rather than prevention. The truth is that nothing you do as a sports coach, athletic trainer or strength and conditioning coach can actually prevent injuries from occurring. The most you can do is to reduce the number of incidences.

Female athletes seem to be prone to injury. It is something that coaches should work on instead of complaining about it. There are those who prefer to study the menstrual cycle but all this gender-related issues cannot be changed. It is important though to change what can be changed such as the stability and strength of the lower body. There are contributing factors that come with being female such as menstrual status, Q angle and intercondylar notch, but since they cannot be changed, it is best to focus on what can.

Here are 5 easy ways that you can help reduce the incidence of ACL tears with your team:

  1. Warm up actively
  2. Develop strength with emphasis on one leg
  3. Change of direction conditioning – This involves developing conditioning
  4. Landing skills – This will involve developing stability and power or what is known as eccentric strength
  5. Change of direction concepts – This is learning or being taught how to stop

As you can see, this is not a list that you can pick and choose from. You need to do all 5 in order to reduce the incidence of ACL injuries.