Volleyball Toolbox

ACL Injury Reduction Exercises

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Have you every lost an athlete during the season because of an ACL injury?ACL injury prevention exercises should be utilized by every volleyball coach to keep their team at full strength and free from injuries. These exercises are designed for injury prevention prevention, but can also be used to help and injured athlete get back to competition quickly and safely.

In the two video clips below Jake Moore; DPT; APTA Credentialed Clinical Instructor; Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coach Certified, Physical Therapist/Strength and Conditioning Coach, Gilbert (IA) High School; USA Weightlifting Club Coach,  discusses body positions that tend to produce ACL injuries and in the second video he offers two exercises to help reduce and recondition ACL injuries.

The following is a brief explanation of body positions that tend to produce ACL Injuries:

  1. Abducted hip with externally rotated foot
  2. Knees tend to be bent less that 30-degrees (important to teach athletes to bend knees more when cutting)
  3. Trunk tilted or rotated towards the plant leg
  4. Posterior ground reaction force
  5. Internally rotated knee

In the second video Coach Moore demonstrates and explains the two exercises that improve the posterior chain strength of athletes, the Double Leg Romanian Dead Lift (RDL) and the Single Leg RDL.

Key coaching points for the Double Leg RDL:

  1. Feet should be shoulder width apart
  2. Slight knee bend
  3. Push hips back
  4. Squeeze shoulder blades
  5. Toes straight ahead
  6. Slide dumbbells down the leg and come back up
  7. All of the weight should be on the heels
  8. Flat though the back
  9. Shin angle should be nearly vertical
  10. All of the movement should be through the hip joint

Key coaching points of the Single Leg RDL:

  1. Stand on one leg with slight knee bend
  2. Bend at the hip
  3. Swing leg back behind as you bend at the hip
  4. Work to keep the knee in line with the toes on the leg that is staitionary
  5. Hips should stay level as you swing leg back
  6. Try not to let the swing leg touch the ground when you come back up

For more information about the DVD that these two clips were taken from, click the link ACL Risk Reduction & Reconditioning

The YouTube videos below have sound. Make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Please note that some schools block access to YouTube.