PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above: Sky Blue Soccer pro Christie Shaner demonstrates warmup techniques to minimize ACL injuries at the South Brunswick Family YMCA on March 28. Left: Physical therapist Mike Holgrem discusses exercises that will help prevent knee injuries. SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Sky Blue Soccer hosted a free ACL Injury Prevention Clinic in collaboration with the South Brunswick Soccer Club March 28 at the South Brunswick YMCA, marking the beginning of the partnership between both organizations.
The clinic included educational information for athletes, coaches and parents, as well as interactive demonstrations on how to avoid such injuries
Dr. Timothy M. Hosea, M.D., serves as a member of University Orthopedic Associates, LLC, as well as the team physician for Sky Blue FC. According to Hosea, the three-letter acronyms most important to this clinic were ACL-PEP (Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Prevent Injury Enhance Performance).
As Hosea explained, the ACL is one of the four major ligaments of the knee. The ACL injury is the most common knee ligament injury, frequently damaged by athletes.
ACL injuries are especially common in females. According to Hosea, and Mike Holgrem, P.T., D.P.T., clinical director of Twin Boro Physical Therapy, girls are more at risk due to unavoidable factors. Some of these factors include: size of femoral notch, a wider pelvis, more developed thigh muscles, more flexibility, and weaker muscles in the hamstrings, Hosea and Holgrem said.
“I don’t like operating on young girls,” Hosea said. “My goal is to avoid performing surgery on young women like you,” Hosea explained to the members of the South Brunswick Soccer Club.
“There are 200,000 ACL tears each year occurring between ages 15-45, on average, at age 26,” Hosea said.
When an athlete’s ACL is torn, a majority of the time the tear is a noncontact injury, frequently occurring in a cutting or landing activity, or a sudden stop when running. When this happens, a pop is usually heard, resulting in immediate pain and eventual swelling, Hosea explained.
Preventing this injury is important to avoid the loss of an athlete’s time and potential in the sport, the risk of meniscal cartilage injuries and long-term consequences of bad knees.
“ACL injuries are preventable. There has been a 41 percent decrease in reported injuries,” Hosea said.
This injury can be prevented through programs that include balance training, which is “key to a successful program. You should begin when children are in high school, and as a coach look for quality instead of speed and agility,” Hosea said.
“We cannot change anatomical things, but we can change neuromuscular factors such as landing mechanics, leg dominance and overall strength levels.” Holgrem said. “It is important to focus on what we can change.”
Holgrem concluded the clinic by demonstrating certain exercises and activities for athletes to partake in before any interaction on the playing field. All of the exercises explained can be found at ACLprevent.com, and are recommended by Hosea and Holgrem to avoid the most common knee injury of the ACL.
“No age is too late to start prevention,” Hosea said.