Muscles, Joints, Ligaments & Bones

The most important way to reduce the short- and long-term affects of poorly positioned kneecaps (patellofemoral dysfunction) is early intervention: physical therapy to strengthen the quad, teach stretching exercises, and guide appropriate biomechanics. Allowing knee pain to persist only decreases the potential for return to pain free sport.

There is good news and bad news on the youth sports injury front. The good news is that sports and recreation musculoskeletal injuries declined 12.4 percent in the U.S. over the past 10 years for children ages 5 to 14 years. The bad news: injuries in football and soccer went up, says a new study.

Shoulder injuries and pain are common in a variety of sports. Whether it is in throwing a pass in football or a pitch in baseball, athletes need tremendous shoulder strength and coordination to achieve athletic excellence. But the constant strain and pressure on the shoulder often leads to irritation and can result in an overuse injury.

Pre- or early adolescence appears to be the best time to start a neuromuscular training program in order to reduce the number of injuries female athletes suffer to their anterior cruciate ligaments, says a new study.

Most soccer players are able to return to play after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery (ACLR), but one in eight who return end up having additional surgery, with females and those whose first surgery was on their non-dominant leg most at risk, a new study finds.

Female adolescent soccer players who followed a 15-minute neuromuscular warm-up program twice a week in training over the course of a season experienced a 64% reduction in the rate of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury compared to players who did not follow such a program, according to a 2012 Swedish study.

Neuromuscular and educational training programs designed to prevent injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) among young athletes appear to cut the risk of ACL injuries in half, according to a new study, although researchers were unable from a review of 14 studies to determine which components of the training interventions were most or least effective.

The most important thing a young athlete can do to combat knee hypermobility is to follow an appropriate strength training program, especially one designed to protect the ACL.

While physical therapists assess readiness of an athlete to return to sports after ACL reconstructive surgery in a variety of ways, research suggests that performance on a series of single leg hopping tests is a good yardstick.

From ball-handling skills to landing softly on one leg as a way of reducing the risk of an ACL tear, balance training is something every young soccer player should include in their workout programs.