Sunday, July 20, 2008

ACL Injuries - how to prevent them

Occurrence of ACL Injuries in Youth Sports Hits All-Time High

More than 70% of injuries are preventable with proper training

More than 20,000 high school female athletes suffer a serious sports related knee injury each year in the United States.

Female athletes are up to six times more likely to experience a knee injury than male athletes of the same age.

Long considered a contact-based injury in which colliding athletes undergo a knee trauma due to the impact, recent research has shown that has many as 70% of ACL injuries are actually non-contact related.

This means that the vast majority of ACL injuries in young athletes are due to strength deficiencies or improper jumping and landing mechanics.

Well-designed strength and conditioning programs have shown to be the number one preventative agent in reducing the incidents of ACL injuries in young athletes.

The International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA), through which I am a Youth Fitness Specialist, is a sport training association that works specifically with young athletes on strength and conditioning programs intended to reduce the risk of injuries incurred in sport as well as dramatically enhance the performance of on-field or on-court play.

My Youth Fitness Program, which is currently available to you in the HRM, currently trains local young athletes ranging from high school basketball and football players to recreational athletes.

Serving young athletes for 5 years, the athletes I've trained have experienced no ACL or other related knee injuries. Injury rates among IYCA trained athletes are significantly lower than other young athletes.

More than 50% of sport related injuries have been prevented by IYCA training programs.
For more information on the training program closest to you or training programs for your teams or young athletes, please call Todd DeWolf at 902-219-0072.

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