ACL Injuries In Sports
ACL injuries are caused by a sprain or tear of the anterior cruciate ligament. To explain Ligaments are tough, non-stretchable tissues that connect the bones. ACL is one of the major ligament in the knee that joins the femur to the tibia and provide stability to the knee joint.
Sports that involve sudden stops or abrupt changes in direction, jumping and landing, or direct blows to the knee or twisting of the knee most commonly cause ACL injuries. For example football, basketball, volleyball, hockey, and cricket.
POPs are often heard or felt in the knee following an ACL injury. Your knee may swell rapidly, be unable to do knee movement, feel unstable and become too painful to bear weight. To prevent ACL injury and if you already have an ACL injury you must seek a qualified sports physiotherapist. Our sports physiotherapists have experience of more than 14 years and are highly qualified & Certified in FIFA football medicine to deal with an ACL injuries and sports rehabilitation.
The most effective physiotherapy treatments for pre & post ACL injuries are-
Firstly regain the full range of motion by passive ROM exercise, Heel slides & wall slides (for flexion), prone hang exercise (for extension), Static quads, & Patella mobilization.
secondly do Cryo-compression.
Then Strengthening of leg muscles -Starts with close chain exercise and progresses to Eccentric exercises which include; strengthening of calf muscle by heel raise exercise, Strengthening of hamstring by hamstring curl and Nordic curl, Strengthening of quadriceps muscle especially for vastus medialis muscle, starting with isometric and progress to Eccentric exercises like; eccentric box squats, lunges, & weighted knee extension.
Core strengthening exercise by crunches, reverse crunches, planks, Copenhagen plank & bridging.
Stretching of gastrocnemius & soleus, quadriceps, hamstring, hip adductor, & hip flexor.
Teaching for walking after ACL reconstruction surgery- try to increase the stance phase in an attempt to walk with a crutch.
Use of the knee brace- to stabilize the knee joint and progressively reduce the use of the brace.
Conditioning of muscles.
Proprioception and coordination exercise by the use of a wobble-board.
Agility & Plyometric exercises. Like- as wall jumps, tuck jumps, squat jumps, and forward & backward zig-zag running.
Sports specific training
Return to sports.
