{"id":1047,"date":"2011-08-08T20:57:12","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T03:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/?p=1047"},"modified":"2011-08-08T21:06:50","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T04:06:50","slug":"deceleration-training-a-must-for-acl-at-risk-female-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/?p=1047","title":{"rendered":"Deceleration Training – A Must for ACL “At Risk” Female Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just finished presenting at our our second ACL Symposium of the year at the Athletic Performance Center<\/a> last Saturday. \u00a0 Rehabbing and training female athletes has been a passion of mine for some time. \u00a0Over the years, I have also developed a love for research and reading it, particularly studies on the ACL.<\/p>\n

In my practice, I have incorporated jump landing, single leg training and deceleration based training for some time. \u00a0While we all know females are 3-8 times more likely to suffer an ACL injury than males, we have not isolated the exact reason why. Researchers have offered some clues such as: wider pelvis, narrow femoral notch, smaller ACL, ligament dominance, limb dominance, natural laxity (hormonal factors), wider Q angles, and faulty muscle firing patterns to name a few.<\/p>\n

Many of the structural factors are beyond our control. \u00a0So, as practitioners, we must focus on the training. \u00a0Consider the following study just published in the August 2011 edition of the American Journal of Sports Medicine <\/em>that basically reveals females develop peak valgus moments during deceleration during a drop landing maneuver, whereas males develop peak valgus forces during acceleration on the way back up:<\/p>\n

Click here for the abstract<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"drop-landing-impact\"

Drop Landing<\/p><\/div>\n

This article adds more evidence that females recruit and fire their muscles very differently than males. \u00a0More importantly, it reiterates that we as coaches, therapists and S & C professionals need to be working on deceleration mechanics. \u00a0I believe this starts with simple soft two legged drills such as:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Small squat jump and holds<\/li>\n
  2. Box drops and holds<\/li>\n
  3. Forward line jump, stick and hold<\/li>\n
  4. Lateral line jump, stick and hold<\/li>\n
  5. 90 degree jump turn, stick and hold<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In addition, one of my favorite drills is a single leg forward leap (hop) and stick working on deceleration. \u00a0The athlete stands on the right leg and then pushes off forward landing on the left leg. \u00a0Coaching the athlete to land softly on a bent hip and knee while avoiding valgus is important. \u00a0I usually perform 2-3 sets of 5 reps on each side. \u00a0Cueing with a mirror, auditory corrections and tactile cues are useful in encouraging proper form.<\/p>\n

    \"SL

    SL Stick (start)<\/p><\/div>\n

    \"SL

    SL Stick (finish)<\/p><\/div>\n

    It is important to keep in mind that the majority of non-contact ACL tears occur between 0 and 30 degrees of knee flexion. \u00a0They also typically involve deceleration (landing, jump stop or change of direction), planting or cutting. \u00a0For this reason, deceleration training must also involve programming for agility and change of direction.<\/p>\n

    On Saturday, I led the break-out session on deceleration training and covered a few key exercises I use with my athletes. \u00a0These drills are layered on one another and the basic ones I begin with are:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Stops – I have athletes accelerate out and then decelerate to a controlled two legged stop after 10-20 yards. \u00a0Keep in mind allowing for a longer run will allow the athlete to gradually slow down, while decreasing the distance increases intensity and force on the knees. \u00a0I coach breaking down with small “pitter patter” steps versus a sudden hard stop.<\/li>\n
    2. 2 cone lateral shuffle stops – the athlete shuffles over 5-6 yards and then stops with good hip, knee and foot alignment working to keep the shoulders inside the knees (inside the box). \u00a0I progress to multiple cone shuffles to increase intensity and maximize repetitive deceleration.<\/li>\n
    3. Pro-agility drills – 3 cones are placed 5 yards apart and I combine linear and lateral movements between the cones layering #1 and #2 above in a continuous pattern to work on acceleration\/deceleration combos and change of direction<\/li>\n
    4. Y drill (4 cones) – the athlete runs forward to a cone 5-15 yards out and then performs a 45 degree cut left\/right. \u00a0The progression begins with directed and predictable movement and then advances to reactive cueing with auditory and visual cues.<\/li>\n
    5. Arrow drill (4 cones) – The athlete runs 5-15 yards forward and then performs a 135 degree cut left\/right and runs past the cone that serves as the bottom edge of the arrow head. \u00a0This is much more demanding on the body (knee) and as such I only move to this after the Y drill has been mastered. \u00a0In addition, I teach a hip turn (from Lee Taft) to reposition the hips and minimize torsion on the lower leg. \u00a0I move from predictive to reactive agility as in the Y drill.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      These exercises are a small sampling of my ACL prehab\/rehab routine. \u00a0I also include an enormous amount of single leg PRE’s and balance training as well. \u00a0I believe the most important things we can currently do to reduce ACL risk in this population are:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • Screen our athletes to help identify risk (FMS, drop landing, dynamic strength,running\/cutting analysis)<\/li>\n
      • Emphasize hamstring, gluteus medius and lateral rotator strengthening<\/li>\n
      • Teach landing mechanics and proper deceleration through neuromuscular exercise, biofeedback and repetitive cueing<\/li>\n
      • Refine proper cutting technique by teaching ideal angles and how to reposition the hips<\/li>\n
      • Empower coaches and athletes with simple yet effective body weight training routines that can be replicated on the field or court with the team<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        For now, the battle rages on. \u00a0I hope you will join me in the quest to prevent these catastrophic injuries. \u00a0I think as research evolves we will continue to see that the answer to promoting optimal stability at the knee will increasingly have more to do with addressing the hip and ankle. \u00a0For now, we need to teach soft bent knee landing\/cutting that shifts the body’s center of mass forward, while eliminating valgus loading as much as possible in the danger zone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        I just finished presenting at our our second ACL Symposium of the year at the Athletic Performance Center last Saturday. \u00a0 Rehabbing and training female athletes has been a passion of mine for some time. \u00a0Over the years, I have also developed a love for research and reading it, particularly studies on the ACL. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158,30,7,31,8],"tags":[440,206,143,91,89,98,205,439],"class_list":["post-1047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acl","category-agility","category-injury-prevention","category-knee","category-rehab","tag-acl","tag-acl-exercises","tag-acl-injury","tag-acl-prevention","tag-acl-rehab","tag-acl-tear","tag-jump-landing","tag-plyometrics"],"yoast_head":"\nDeceleration Training - A Must for ACL "At Risk" Female Athletes - Brian Schiff's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/?p=1047\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deceleration Training - A Must for ACL "At Risk" Female Athletes - Brian Schiff's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I just finished presenting at our our second ACL Symposium of the year at the Athletic Performance Center last Saturday. \u00a0 Rehabbing and training female athletes has been a passion of mine for some time. \u00a0Over the years, I have also developed a love for research and reading it, particularly studies on the ACL. 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