ACL Prevention
The number of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries is steadily on the rise with more than 200,000 per year and an annual incidence of more than one in every 3,000 people. The majority of these injuries occur between the ages of 12 and 25 with an annual incidence of more than one for every 1,000 persons in this age group. Given these numbers, the total cost of surgery and rehabilitation alone is in the billions. The individual costs of the emotional and physical burden are immeasurable.
ACL reconstructive surgery is very successful at stabilizing the knee and allowing a return to full activities. However, surgery is not without risks for infection, re-injury, scar tissue and stiffness. Furthermore, despite successful surgery and rehabilitation, the majority of knees will still go on to post-traumatic arthritis after an ACL injury. Post-traumatic arthritis is the wearing-out of the protective cartilage that covers the ends of the bones at the joint following an injury to the joint. Once the protective cartilage layer wears out, the ends of the bone are exposed and rub against each other causing significant pain and disability. While we can fix focal (small and limited) areas of cartilage damage, this type of post-traumatic arthritis is more diffuse (spread throughout) and cannot be fixed without larger joint reconstructive procedures like osteotomy (bone realignment) or knee replacement.
Greater than 70% of ACL injuries occur by a non-contact mechanism which occurs when an athlete tries to stop, cut, or land from a jump without any contact to the knee itself. Research by Dr. Chudik has shown that given a particular position of the knee, our own muscle forces can tear the ACL. With this understanding of the ACL non-contact injury mechanism, the development of training programs to correct balance issues, knee position and muscle firing patterns during at-risk athletic maneuvers has shown to decrease the incidence of ACL injury. Combinations of balance (proprioception) training, core muscle training and plyometric (jump) training seems to be most effective.
The Sports Medicine Physicians and Therapy Clinicians at the Orthopaedic Sports Performance Institute (OSPI) have combined their knowledge, experience and skill to research and develop their own ACL prevention program. It consists of a general six week program to be performed in the pre-season or following an ACL injury or other knee injury before return to sport. We have also developed a short in-season program to be used as part of the conditioning portion of practice to maintain the benefits learned in the off-season.
To sign-up or get more information about the ACL Prevention Program, please contact ACL PREVENTION by email or call 630-794-8668.
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