Knee Injury Prevention

I wanted to pass this on for any of you interested in incorporating this into your DD's conditioning.

My DD finally had her last Doctor visit from her ACL injury yesterday, one month shy of two years of the date of injury. She was actually cleared to play unconditionally one year ago November (2008), but there were some very important reasons why they kept us coming.

For months after she was cleared to play we had to return to Duke Sports Med for stress tests. Those tests measure the tork and strength of the leg, in particular the quads in relation to the rest of the leg. So for an athlete to be fully protected certain numbers need to be obtained to insure prevention of future injuries. My DD could never fully hit the level the Doc was looking for, but not by much. The reason as we learned was that she is the type of athlete who has super strong quads, and the strength of her quads overpowers the rest of her leg. So when you have that, the only way you can protect against it is to have the hamstrings just as strong. And you have to build them through a series of repetitive excercises, and continue that regime until your playing days are over. So the tests reveal one thing, and the exercises built and protected. Doc said that statiscally on a national level to many athletes over the years, especially females, were returning with the other knee torn up or had to have revisions, and the RUSSIAN exercises were incorporated into rehab and conditioning as prevention. Strong quads have to have super strong Hams or you have a recipe for disaster. The hamstrings are what protect the knees.

Plus, when you have a completely reconstructed knee it really takes almost two years for the new ACL to equal the original one. The right knee is two years old, but the left knee is 15. But now....the right knee (repaired) is stronger than the left. Bigger ACL.

We had the Director of the Women's side of Duke Sports Med, Dr. Alison Toth. She's the real deal. We were in a very good spot. There were alot of kids who walked through the doors at physical therapy who were not so lucky. To we feel very fortunate.

Anyone interested in the exercises to build those hams to protect the knee's like they do at Duke, PM me and I'll get them to you. We learned alot at Duke and my DD found her future calling in Sports Medicine. Stay safe out there.