Essendon's 2 Knee Injuries

Yesterday we saw not only a match of the year candidate between Carlton and Essendon, but also 2 ACL tears in the space of 10mins, both to two of Essendon's best run and carry players, Jason Winderlich and then Courtenay Dempsey.

Here's my quick take on it all.

If you've been a follower of this blog since its inception then you would know that I abide by the stability-mobility continuum where some joints require stability, and others require mobility for optimal performance.

You would then also know that when 1 joint isn't as mobile as it should be that when you need that extra mobility during movement, the body will go to another joint to get it. This is where the trouble starts.

The knee is a joint that requires stability, or the ability to resist forces and unwanted movement coming up the leg from the ankle to the hip, both of which are joints that require mobility for optimal performance.

The ankle and hip joints are both joints that more often then not, present with less mobility then they require. Couple this with ankle taping and you're in trouble.

Yes taping is used to prevent ankle sprains and rolls, but it also puts an extraordinary amount of pressure on the knee to provide the range of motion that you've taken away from the ankle.

When you tear an ACL, the knee buckles inwards, which in geek terms is hip internal rotation. Another prevalent postural flaw, and even more so in sports that require plenty of running is quad dominance. This means that your quadricep and hip flexor muscle groups become overused and thus tight and the gluteal muscle group becomes weak and inhibited (switched off).

So where both muscle groups work opposite each other, you require optimal strength levels from front to back so that the pull is of equal resistance each way. When it isn't then the muscle that is stronger and dominant, in this case the quads and hip flexors, will pull your hips out of alignment (down to the front towards your toes).

This posture flaw results in what is known as excessive pelvic tilt and a by referral movement deficiency of this postural flaw is excessive hip internal rotation.

So now we have in adequate ankle and hip mobility, ankle taping resulting in even less ankle mobility and now excessive hip internal rotation. Now add running at high velocities and volumes, and the need to be able to decelerate yourself and change direction, and you have an ACL tear waiting to happen.

If you look at the Courtenay Dempsey incident you will see that he lands with his foot turned out, or external rotation. To "straighten" his landing up his knee buckles in. Winderlich's and similar.

So what should you do to avoid the fate of the ACL tear?

1 - Improve you ankle mobility with the first exercise from this video and the improve hip mobility with the second and third exercises from this:

2 - Activate your glute muscles

3 - Strengthen the glute muscles

4 - Improve your core stability

As far as ankle taping goes I have never taped my ankles, even after I rolled them. I don't do tape at all as I feel it restricts me. I would suggest if you don't want to play without tape then try and train without it so you can use your new found ankle joint range of motion during game simulated conditions.