10 Aug Soccer ACL Injuries: Two Common Movements often Lead to Tears
Players, coaches and families take notice: after further video review, two common movements put athletes at high risk for soccer Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries.
Articles in the April 2015 British Journal of Sports Medicine (males only) and May/June 2015 Sports Health (males/females) reviewed videos of soccer ACL injuries.
Both confirmed that landing off-balance on one leg puts players at high risk.
We’ve known this for quite a while.
These studies did add a new twist as certain defensive movements may also be a common culprit.
Around 3/4 of all soccer ACL tears were found to occur when the injured athlete was defending. The Sports Health group found that females were more likely to be defending when they injured their ACL.
Now, forwards who are reluctant (or lazy) to come back on defense may be silently rejoicing at this news.
For those who actually play defense, let’s take a deeper look at the risky situations:
- Tackling to separate the ball from an opponent.
- Often requires last minute adjustments in body position and technique
- Cutting to track an opponent
- Pressing situations where defending player typically made sidestep cut in order to reach ball or tackle an opponent