ACL Tears: Their Cause and Prevention

There has been an increase in the prevalence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears among athletes in the recent years. This paper will seek to discover why ACL injury is so common and if there is any way to minimize these injuries. Research has shown a number of things that can lead to prevention of these injuries, including a correlation between the strength of the hip and thigh muscles and the stability of the ACL. Also many recent studies show that individuals most susceptible to ACL injuries often have difficulty performing gross motor skills such that the lower extremities move primarily in the sagittal plane, as the knee is subjected to higher stresses on its internal structures when excessive motions occur in the frontal plane