Youth and Adolescent Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injury
Screening and Prevention Program
Metropolitan Physical Therapy’s ACL injury prevention program offers science-based interventions that assess your risk factors to prevent future ACL injuries. This approach is generally not used by CrossFit, Personal training professionals, or coaches.
Nearly 100,000 ACL injuries per year occur in the United States. The estimated cost of the evaluation, treatment, rehabilitation and possible loss of funding and scholarships for athletes is close to $1 billion. Metropolitan Physical Therapy is pleased to be offering our ACL injury prevention program based on the best available scientific evidence.
We are not aware of any comprehensive ACL injury prevention program in the Denver/Boulder area, including physical therapy clinics, school-based programs, or fitness centers. We have been working with youth athletes in the area for years, and it is common to find that most high school athletics do not place enough emphasis on assessing the risk factors on behalf of future injury.
What is an ACL anyway?
ACL is short for Anterior Cruciate Ligament. Ligaments connect one bone to another bone, and guide and restrain movement of the joint. Your ACL is a ligament in your knee that resists twisting movements. This ligament can become sprained or torn when an athlete jumps and lands the wrong way, or does not have the strength, control, and power to limit forces from twisting the knee, especially with the athlete is tired and fatigued.
Injury to this ligament causes instability in the knee. As a consequence, the athlete will be unable to return to certain sports, resulting in loss of performance, leg giving way, or pain and swelling.
Most of these injuries require orthopedic surgery in which the ligament is repaired with a graph from their own body from another location (autography) or from a cadaver (allograph).
What’s the difference between a non-contact injury and a contact injury?
A contact ACL injury happens with the knee is hit from another person, such as during a tackle or someone falling on them. A non-contact ACL injury happens when the knee is injured from jumping, running, or twisting and there is no other contact from another person.
Why do a prevention program?
Avoiding a knee injury for grade school or high school athletes is critical for their future athletic aspirations. Here’s a list of reason for you to invest in an ACL Injury prevention program if you have a youth athlete in competitive sports.
- If your athlete has a real chance at playing a college sport on scholarship, an ACL injury in high school can mean the difference between D1 and D2.
- Your athlete could lose a scholarship if they have an injury.
- Loss of participation in sport for 9 months after surgery.
- Time and money lost on physician visits, imaging, and post-operative recovery process.
- One in four youths who suffer an ACL injury will suffer a second ACL injury in their athletic career.
- Your Athlete can reduce their risk of a non-contact injury by 72%.
Who is at risk and why?
Sports that have movements with cutting, twisting, pivoting or jumping are high-risk sports. This includes basketball, volleyball, soccer, cheerleading, gymnastics, skiing, softball, and some track and field events.
Youth and adolescent athletes will sometimes grow while they’re training and participating in sports. Rapid changes in bone length will result in functional strength loss; the strength that normally protects the knee during play. As the body develops and changes, the brain will not have the same ability to react as the body is different than it was before. Therefore, movement pattern may not develop in the correct way and not adapt quickly enough for their demanding sport.
What does Metropolitan Physical Therapy’s ACL Injury Prevention Program do?
A full orthopedic assessment of the lower extremity will identify factors that lead to risk of an injury, including patterns of weakness, ligament laxity, foot problems, and altered movement patterns.
Once problems are identified, we will discuss those factors with you and how it relates to increased risk.
Our program will consist of supervised strengthening exercises, jumping drills, balance exercises, coordination exercises, and a sport performance program that focuses on your athlete’s specific risk factors. We will also assess for potential foot problems or leg length issues that may need to be addressed by an orthotic.
Many of the exercises can be incorporated into training sessions with coaches overseeing athletic activities. Additionally, athletes can perform exercises at home independently once they demonstrate proficiency and correct technique. Education is the key component, as is including the athlete, parents and coaches.
Does this relate to sport performance?
Yes, not only will we reduce your risk for injury, but this type of training will make you faster, jumper farther, and be quicker than your opponent.
Great, how does this get paid for?
Most insurance plans will cover these services. If not, we have reasonable cash plans. Please contact us and we will review your insurance coverage and options for payment.
Wait, I have a few more questions . . .
No problem. We are happy to answer any questions you may still have. Give us a call or schedule a time to stop by the office to get more information.