Are you at risk for an ACL injury?

As an athlete it’s almost guaranteed that an injury has touched you somehow.  Maybe you’ve been hurt or maybe a teammate or friend. Often the shock and pain are nowhere near as upsetting as the recovery process, sitting on the sidelines watching your team compete.  With an injury like an ACL tear, you or your teammate could be out for an entire season.

Obviously, you aren’t trying to get hurt, but it’s also nearly impossible to prevent every injury. However, the first step towards injury prevention is education. You’d think, since our bodies were created for athletic activity, it would be fairly instinctive for how to keep ourselves in injury-free.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Knowing what causes an ACL injury can clue you in on how to stay safe on the field and keep you in the game.  While there are certain, unavoidable causes, like a blow to the side of the knee or other contact-related, mishaps, it’s the non-contact causes that should be explored. 

Coming to a quick stop, combined with a direction change while running, pivoting, landing from a jump, or overextending the knee joint (called hyperextended knee), also can cause injury to the ACL. (source: here)

Because of certain biological factors unique to women, we are somewhat cursed with the knack for hurting our ACLs more easily than men.  As our hips develop during puberty and early adulthood, our knees tend to shift inward. This “knock-kneed” stance puts added pressure on the ligaments in our knees and can lead to ACL trauma while doing routine sports related activities. (source: here)

Essentially, if you suffer from “knock-kneed” posture, when you jump, pivot, and land, you are doing so off balanced. When your body tries to react and stabilize, injury can occur.

To better understand if you are more likely to have an ACL injury, work with a coach, trainer or a friend (your spotter) and perform to simple tests.  Take a video so you can see yourself.

The Squat

Have your spotter stand directly in front of you

Stand with your feet hip distance apart

Squat deeply – repeat 10X

If your knees shift inward when you squat down, you have some degree of Valgus Collapse

The Jump Shot

Have your spotter stand directly in front of you

Take a bounce pass – then a basic basketball jump shot

Take 10X shots

If your knees shift inward at you stopped to shoot, you have some degree of Valgus Collapse

If you video your test, post it to youtube and send us a link! We’ll feature it here so everyone can learn from your examples.

This is all to say that you shouldn’t be afraid to participate in sports, but just more aware.  Another option to help remedy your posture and form is to wear Aspaeris Pivot Shorts™ which are specifically designed to guide you in the proper “knees over toes” alignment.

Stay in the game!

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Injuring your ACL stinks!  On an average day, over 500 women athletes suffer an ACL injury too.   Have you been injured recently? I’d love to hear your story. Email me at Aspaeris@gmail.com and we’ll feature your story on our blog!