Are You At Risk For A Knee Injury?
Are you at Risk for a Knee Injury?
There is one simple test you can do to determine if you are at risk for a non-contact knee injury, the Broad Jump. By taking a video you can identify if you are at an increased risk.
Young athletes are especially vulnerable to non-contact injuries with the issues discussed below.
Identifying if You are at Risk
If during the broad jump we see a valgus or collapsed knee at the take off or the landing of the jump we have an increased risk. The valgus knee is an indication of improper movement mechanics and/or a imbalance of the anterior (front side aka quads) and posterior (back side aka hamstrings and butt) chains.
Seeing the valgus knee in the broad jump means we will likely see it in agility based movements (cutting on the field) and strength/power based movements (squat, deadlift, clean).
Here is Coach Cole showing us a valgus knee position. The appearance of this position is an indication of an increased risk of a non-contact knee injury and is likely due to a movement pattern or imbalance issue.
Prevention and Correction
If the valgus knee is present there are ways to correct the issue and help reduce the risk of injury. Even if the position is not present, working on the items below are still good ideas to help reduce risk and help one become a better athlete and/or healthier person.
There are two primary ways to help prevent and correct this issue.
Awareness and Movement Pattern Corrections
Being aware of the issue is the first step. If you are aware of the issue we can start correcting it. Building proper movement patterns with strength and conditioning will help transfer to safer and more powerful movements in whatever activity you are doing.Strength Training
By strength training with proper technique, we can build up overall strength and correct muscle imbalances.
Muscular strength will help build a hedge against injury. If your muscles are strong they will be able to support your joints and ligaments through movements. Only training for speed, agility, cardio and not strength increases risk of injury. This is due to the body moving faster than the muscles can handle.
Here is coach Cole demonstrating a proper knee position and loading for a jump. By pushing the knees out we can recruit the posterior chain and help keep the knee in a safe, strong, and powerful position.
Closing
All the training in the world can not completely eliminate risk, however, with smart and consistent training we can greatly reduce our risk of injury.
At Equity we want to see proper mechanics consistently then we introduce intensity. Mechanics and consistency must be present before intensity. By having this as a focus we are able to help build healthy and strong athletes.
Do you have any questions about knee injuries? Need help correcting valgus knees? Lets us know.
berek.bryan@equity-sc.com
Interested in giving Equity a try? Check out how to get started.
https://www.equity-sc.com/getting-started
Cheers,
Berek