Preventing and Reducing ACL Injury: a 'PEP' Talk for Every Athlete

As an avid researcher and orthopedic surgeon in practice for more than two decades, ACL tears have consistently been at the top of the totem pole when it comes to the sports injuries I research and treat the most. In fact, it is estimated that of the 200,000 ACL injuries that occur each year in the U.S., most will require surgery to repair or reconstruct the ligament and restore normal range of motion – all with the goal of getting people back to sport or living the active life they love.

In the case of athletes specifically, too many in otherwise pristine athletic condition suffer the fate of an often season-ending (sometimes career-ending in extreme cases) ACL injury. Especially in what are considered high-risk sports such as basketball, football, skiing, volleyball and soccer, the ACL injury risk is even greater. My esteemed colleagues and I began to wonder: Are these ACL injuries an assumed "fate" that can actually be avoided? The answer to that very question is one I and a team of my colleagues set out to study beginning in 2000. The question we wanted to answer was this: Is there a way that painful and costly ACL injuries can be prevented in athletes across a wide spectrum of sports? That question took 10 years of diligence in helping to answer, but resulted in the establishment and fine-tuning of a program for young sports players to avoid knee injuries, most significantly ACL tears.