Anyone wants to avoid an annoying injury at all costs. More if it comes to injuries such as ankle, knee or anterior cruciate ligament sprains. These injuries are the most common in athletes of all kinds, the youngest being the most affected. This makes preventing ACL injuries a vital issue.
We must prevent cruciate ligament injuries, if it cannot keep us out of our activity for months. Time that translates into inactivity, something that for an athlete can be completely dramatic. This is why it is worth asking yourself, is there anything you can do to prevent ACL injury? Yes, it is clear that we can strengthen our knees, in order to avoid any type of injury.
Advisable guidelines to introduce in our day to day
-Move with a good alignment, in order to avoid damage to the knees.
-Don’t allow your knees to bend inward.
-Develop strength in your hips and abdomen muscles, they will allow you to eliminate load from your knees.
If you are a person who does sports continuously, these guidelines may not be enough for you to achieve strong knees. Physical exercise has a lot of impact on these joints, so you have to pay a little more attention to them.
We propose some specific exercises that will improve your flexibility, strength, balance and agility. To execute any of them it is very important that before starting warm a little. It is essential that our body is active and prepared to exercise.
1. Flexibility and stretching
For our lower body to be in perfect condition, you must perform abductor, quadriceps, calf and biceps femoris stretches mainly, as it is essential to prevent injuries to the cruciate ligament. In addition, parts of your body such as the abdomen or the buttocks will intervene. But we cannot exercise without first warming up our joints and muscles.
2. Strengthen our Core
It is essential to counteract weight on our knees and prevent ACL injuries to work the strength of the hips, abdomen and quadriceps. This extra strength will help us a lot in our balance when walking and playing sports.
In this field we can find a large number of exercises and variants. The most effective although not so attractive are squats, lunges and exercises focused on working the central part of the body.
Dreaded squats
They are undoubtedly a more than effective exercise, proof of this is the congestion that usually leaves the first days.
Stand up, with these separated at the height of our shoulders. Bend your knees, as if you were going to sit down. Try to go as low as you can, always with your feet and knees facing forward and without allowing them to turn inwards. Don’t forget to keep your back straight at all times.
Try to hang down as long as you can and get up slowly, tensing your legs and abdomen. As you gain experience, you will be able to do them with weight.
Strides
This exercise is quite simple and very effective. Especially if you are recovering from a knee injury .
In an upright position, bring one leg forward as if you were taking a step. Once your foot is on the ground, leave both feet still. You will be in a position with one leg forward. Later flex the knee, lowering the hips.
Once you achieve the maximum flexion posture, gently regain your vertical position.
Important, you should always have your knees in line with your feet. That is, the front knee, always flexes forward. In the direction the toes point. Rotations and twists can be added to these exercises to help flexibility of the joints.
Work in the press
If you belong to a gym, surely you know the leg press. This machine allows us to exercise our legs, but it requires good technique to avoid getting hurt. If you master the press at the gym, add a few sets to your routines throughout the week. With moderate weight that allows you to perform the exercise slowly.
Abdomen, obliques and lumbar
Believe it or not, we move largely thanks to these muscles. On many occasions, they support the weight of our body and avoid bad postures that cause damage. These muscles can be worked with sit-ups and isolated exercises that work the obliques.
You should pay close attention to this muscle group and exercise it at least three times a week, including series of abdominals but without forgetting the lower back. The lower back also actively contributes to our position.
3. Work your balance
Many injuries occur from loss of balance during activity. To prevent injuries to the cruciate ligament we have to avoid falls or bruises.
Exercises like small jumps in which the support position is changed help a lot. Jumping by exchanging the position of the legs forward and back, allows us to work on the balance position. We must always train with jumps that generate little impact and in short periods of time.
