Prehab (6) ACL Tears: Balance Exercises

Prehab (6) ACL Tears: Balance Exercises

I feel like my change of direction ability has gotten better, how can I improve my single leg support for when I’m planting or pivoting? 

The best preventative ACL programs are multifaceted incorporating a combination of strength, plyometrics, agility, balance, flexibility, & feedback components. Strength exercises should focus on using body weight or force production through sport specific movements, plyometric training should use repeated jumping from various obstacles or bounding variations, agility exercises should have a fast change of direction such as the pro-agility drill often used in professional combines, balance should have different variations to eliminate different body systems such as sight, & dynamic stretching should be performed. 

The sixth & final phase of our ACL prehab series is focused on balance exercises. These exercises are important for training the muscles that stabilize your legs as you’re going through a different sport. Many balance exercises also include a training system called the proprioceptive system that helps your body understand where it is in space so that when you are knocked off balance, your body instinctively knows how to position itself in order to prevent further harm.

Our favorite prehab balance exercise for ACL tears is a single leg wall squat with a swiss ball. In order to perform:

  1. Use a swiss ball against your back in order to get into a squat position against the wall
  2. From this position raise an individual leg off of the ground & hold for 5-10 seconds
  3. Switch to the opposite leg for another 5-10 seconds
  4. After completing, you can stand back up to reset & then go back down to the squat position
  5. Repeat 10 times for optimal results

This phase completes our favorite exercises for preventing ACL injuries. If you’re interested in a complete program for preventing ACL injuries contact us now!

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