How to Prevent ACL Injuries In Soccer
ACL tears are one of the most devastating injuries for soccer players because just one twist of the knee can derail your entire soccer season.
Most ACL injuries happen during non-contact events, usually when planting, twisting, or turning to change direction, rather than when you come into contact with another player. Injuries happen, but there’s something to be said for doing everything you can to prevent them.
Focusing on incorporating a few key things in your training can dramatically lower your risk of ACL injury. It doesn’t have to be fancy or extensive, but your training does need to be intentional.
Before we jump in, I also want to let you know about my 6-week ACL tear prevention program for athletes— get it for only $27!
You'll get:
3 days/week of 10-minute supplemental ACL prevention exercises
Easy access to the program via a PDF download
Video demonstrations and written descriptions so you can be sure you're performing each exercise correctly
Forever access to the program
Here’s a quick rundown of my best tips for preventing ACL tears in soccer players (but also athletes in general)
Comprehensive strengthening program during the season and in the off-season that targets hamstrings and glutes
Adding agility drills into the weekly routine
Adequate warm-up exercises prior to activity
Get treatment for knee and ankle injuries ASAP (don’t wait!)— if injuries occur, make sure you address them
Schedule a check-in/evaluation with your local sports PT
PS— here's a shameless plug for our sports specific/soccer specific treatment at Game Changer that can help you return to sport/return to play safely. Book a free discovery call today! We offer physical therapy for soccer players in Kennewick, WA and would love to help you.
Strength training to prevent ACL injuries in soccer players
Athletes respond really well to strength training in general, but especially when it comes to injury prevention. Having a proper strength and conditioning program in place during the regular season and the off-season for your sport is crucial. This helps to maintain strength, mobility, and muscle activation patterns as you progress through your sports season. When you stay consistent with your strengthening it helps to prevent injury.
Soccer is a quadriceps dominant sport from all the kicking and running it requires, which means that the quadriceps tend to be more developed than other areas. Focus on strength and activation of the quadriceps and glutes in your training. The hamstrings especially help to reduce strain and shearing force on the ACL.
Try adding some of these exercises into your weekly routine:
Single leg RDLs
Hamstring curls on the stability ball
Single leg squats
TRX hamstring runners/hamstring curls
Side lunges
Bulgarian squats
One thing to be mindful of - avoid overtraining! Focus on quality instead of quantity, especially when it comes to conditioning. Listen to your body. If you’ve been training daily and feel run down, it might be a sign that you’re pushing it too hard. On the other hand, if you can’t make it through practice without feeling exhausted and rundown, then it might be time to focus on your conditioning
Agility work to prevent ACL injuries in soccer players
There’s a lot of different ways to train for ACL prevention. Soccer is a sport that involves a lot of speed and agility work, changing direction, and quick movements, which is why it’s important to work on decreasing muscle reaction time and increasing activation.
By improving your reaction time, the muscles surrounding the knee, hips, and ankles will be able to better protect the ligaments (and your ACL is a ligament) during quick stops, turns, and pivots. So train for it the need of needing better reaction time, quick stops, and more with agility work.
Try these exercises to improve your agility:
Speed ladder (drills involving forward, backward, and lateral movement)
Single and double leg jumping
Cone drills with and without a soccer ball (box drills, changing directions)
Sprints (work with a sprinting coach to check your form)
Make sure that you’re working on speed and agility at least two times per week in order to make improvement. Your agility workout intensity and duration should be adapted to your training cycle, whether you’re in the middle of your season, pre-season, or in the off-season.
Warm-up exercises you can use to prevent ACL injuries as a soccer player
For the love of all that is Holy, please do a warm-up. It doesn’t have to be a 45-minute long, boring routine. It doesn’t have to take longer than your actual workout. It doesn’t need to be the most boring thing in the world. But you do have to do it.
A warm up should really be called the activation sequence because that’s exactly what you’re doing. It’s a series of movements that get your body ready for the specific task at hand. By targeting specific muscles and moving through a variety of intensities, it wakes everything up - the joints, tendons, ligaments, muscles, your cardiovascular system (heart, veins, arteries), and your brain.
Spending time doing a proper warm-up means fewer injuries for you and better performance on the field from the get-go. Optimize your warm-up for your sport. Since you play soccer, it should include some forward motion (ex. Lunges, heel toe walking, forward skips, kicks), sideways movement (ex. side lunges, side skipping), backwards motion (ex. retrowalking, retrorunning), and progressive sprints.
Consult with a sports physical therapist or a strength and conditioning coach to get a customized warm-up routine for you and your sport. I create these all the time for my clients and local sports teams - and let me tell you, it makes a world of difference in ACL injury prevention.
Nutrition to prevent ACL injuries in soccer players
“You are what you eat.” We hear that phrase all the time, but what does it really mean when it comes to sports? Well, what you eat factors into your body’s ability to combat injury and truly heal.
If you aren’t getting enough calories to sustain your activity level, then your body suffers. You have to make sure that you get enough calories, but also enough of the specific nutrients you need to perform your best.
You need enough protein to build muscle. Magnesium, minerals, and electrolytes all help to reduce cramping. Carbohydrates give your body the energy that you need to sprint, jog, kick, and think clearly on the field. Yes, carbohydrates help your brain operate more clearly too.
Check out my in depth nutrition recommendations here, inside my blog: The Ultimate Guide to Comprehensive Athlete Recovery Strategies
Go to the Pros — Get sports-specific treatment for your injuries
This is your athletic career, these are your knees, and ultimately it’s up to you to make sure your training, recovery, and nutrition is up to par. But you can have as much help as you need along the way and you don’t have to do it alone. There’s so many awesome providers and resources that you can utilize to create your best and most effective program.
Schedule an appointment with your local sports physical therapist to evaluate your current mobility and strength. You can identify any areas of weakness that may make you more susceptible to ACL injury. They should test your strength, jumping ability, single leg squat, and provide a movement screen.
And a word to the wise - if you do get a knee or ankle injury, get it evaluated as soon as possible. (That means don’t ignore your ankle sprain!) Swelling around a joint inhibits muscle function and delays reaction time. It inhibits muscle activation, which leaves your ligaments more susceptible to injury. Weak ankles and repeated ankle sprains do increase your likelihood of an ACL injury later.
At Game Changer we have sports specific/soccer specific treatment that can help you return to sport/return to play safely. You'll get specific exercises and treatment to improve your ability to avoid getting injured on the field.
Book a free discovery call today! We offer physical therapy for soccer athletes in Kennewick, WA and would love to help you.
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