Dr. Jeffrey Gladden explains why ACL tears happen and how to prevent them. Women are 5-10 times more likely to tear an ACL than men, but a 6-week program teaching proper running and jumping mechanics cuts injury risk by 50-75%. Even after surgery, an ACL tear speeds up knee arthritis by 12-15 years.
I can tell you one thing we can prevent. We can prevent ACL tears. You know, the ACL is the main ligament inside the knee that stabilizes as people are running and cutting and pivoting. And once somebody tears their ACL, even if you go in there and you reconstruct it and make a new ligament, they still have a high risk of arthritis. It's, it just pushes it off 12 to 15 years. So two things. One, there's, there's simple programs, 6-week preventive programs that teach people, especially females, because it's 5 to 10 times more common in females. Teach people how to run, cut, jump in the appropriate way, use the right muscles in the appropriate balance, train the muscles in the appropriate balance, and lessens the risk of tearing that ACL by 50 to 75%. Just— that's massive. Because most of those injuries are non-contact. The person's not even getting hit.
