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The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the ligaments in the knee and is a main stabilizer of the knee. The ACL is a commonly injured knee ligament with sports related activities. Common mechanisms of the ACL injury are sudden pivots or stops, quickly changes direction or lands after jumping. You need to know following 10 things about ACL injury.
- ACL injuries occurs in any sports, but most commonly with playing football, basketball and soccer.
- ACL injuries more happen to female athletes than male athletes.
- 50% of ACL injuries are occurs with other knee ligaments or cartilage injuries in the knee. Ex: MCL, LCL, PCL or meniscus.
- Surgery is generally recommended when ACL and other structures are injured at a same time.
- 70% of ACL injuries happened with non-contact sports.
- 50% of athletes who suffers from ACL injury will have osteoarthritis (OA) within 10 to 20 years of injury.
- The risk of ACL injury will be reduced with preventative exercise and training for 2-3 times a week.
- Preventative exercises will take only 10-15 minutes to finish. Those exercises include stretching, strength training, jump training and balance training.
- Researches show that preventative exercises and training can reduce ACL and other traumatic knee injuries by 50%.
- Preventative exercises and training will improve your athletic performance such as vertical leap, aerobic fitness and sprint speed.
Reference: NATA News March 2016
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