Knowledge is key in ACL injury prevention. You need to know what the ACL is, what it does and how your movements affect it. The ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee. It works by stopping your thigh bone from rubbing on your shin bone.

If you have an ACL injury, then it does not stop this movement and thus causes your knee to wobble and seem to give out. If your knee gives out, it wobbles to the side in most cases and causes you to fall down.

Most people with ACL injuries know they have one because of this symptom along with pain and swelling.

One thing that you can do to ensure ACL injury prevention is to warm up before you begin exercising or participating in a sport. Doing warm-up exercises makes your bones and joints more flexible during the activity, thus preventing any type of injury.

If you are running or doing a lot of jumping in your activity, your ACL is more likely to snap or tear if you do not do any type of warm-up exercises.

So, stretch those joints and muscles and get them limbered up for whatever activity you are intending to do. This way the likelihood of injuring your ACL is slim to none.

ACL Injury Prevention Continued

Strength conditioning is also important in ACL injury prevention. If you do exercises to increase the strength and balance of your knees, then that lowers your risk for ACL injuries in the future.

Slowly progressing your way through a strength conditioning program is the best way to get to where you want to be. You can’t just jump into doing something without working your way up to it. If you do not work your way up to doing an intense activity, you run the risk of not just damaging your ACL, but other muscles and body parts as well.

Exercising properly and using the right sports equipment is also vital for ACL injury prevention. Of course, this goes back to doing warm-up exercises, but also includes doing core exercises the right way and doing a cool-down routine as well.

If you are involved in sports, you also need to make sure your knee pads are in good condition and any other equipment you use as well. It is definitely much easier to prevent an ACL injury than it is to go through the surgery and healing process.

So, be smart and do everything you can to prevent injuring your ACL.