ACL Injury Analysis

The main mechanism of an ACL injury is that the loads applied to the ligament are greater than its ability to sustain the load. Increasing knee flexion has been found to reduce this load experienced by the ligament however, there is no single muscle crossing the knee that is capable of simultaneously supporting the knee from externally applied flexion, valgus, and internal rotation knee movements (Donnelly et al., 2012). These movements, which are the main movements that result in an injury to the ACL, can be seen during sidestepping and single leg landing with the knee near full extension. It is hypothesized that inappropriate postural adjustments are responsible for the increase in joint load when there is little time to prepare for the task (unanticipated) (Besier et al., 2001).
Theses risk factors can be divided into different categories such as: anatomical, neuromuscular, hormonal, genetic, cognitive functioning, previous injury history and extrinsic risk factors (Smith et al., 2012). Intervention strategies to prevent ACL injuries should focus on reducing the external load applied to the knee joint by changing the technique of postural adjustments. In addition strategies should look to improve reaction time in order to allow the body more time to react to these unanticipated movements by making the correct kinematic adjustments. Lastly interventions should allow athletes to gain a better interpretation of visual cues to increase the time available to preplan a movement (Besier et al.,