Mick Hughes:
Sports & Exercise Physiotherapist
M. Sports Physio, B. Physio, B.Ex. Sci.

Do knee extensions strain the ACL? Yes. Do squats and lunges strain the ACL? Yes. Does walking on flat ground, climbing stairs and cycling strain the ACL? Yes. There's a common misconception that knee extensions are the only activity that stretches and strains the ACL graft. This is simply not true, with commonly used closed kinetic chain exercises straining the ACL as much as knee extensions. In a review by Escamilla et al (2012), the authors highlighted that squatting 0

Getting the knee actively into extension is an important goal in the first few days/weeks following ACL reconstruction. Here is a very simple exercise option, and can be grouped together quite nicely with "prone knee hangs" (which encourages the knee into passive knee extension). My advice: 3x15-20reps (holding each rep for 3-5seconds), 2-3x per day in the first 2 weeks or so post-op. To watch my online ACL Masterclass, simply click here

Did you know that "Indirect Contact" ACL injuries accounts for up to 68% of all "Non-Contact" ACL injuries in NFL, 50% in netball and 20% in soccer (Johnston et al 2018, Stuelcken et al 2016 & Walden et al 2015)? Although as many as 50% of all ACL injury types are preventable with Injury Prevention Programs (Webster & Hewett 2018), some injuries are beyond the control of the athlete (genetics, anatomical differences, hormones etc) and/or are simply part and parcel of playing

When added to injury prevention programs, the traditional Nordic hamstring exercise has been shown to decrease hamstring strains by 50% - when compared against injury prevention programs that didn't include them (Al Attar et al, 2017). Anecdotally, however I find that some people struggle to do them which creates a barrier to its implementation. So for those that struggle to do the traditional Nordic hamstring exercise, here is a band-assisted Nordic that allows you to lowe

Achilles tendon rupture - fun facts: Males are 3.5x more likely than females to rupture their achilles, with 20-39yrs being the peak age of incidence 20-39yrs for males. In recent years, there has been an increasing trend seen in 40-59yr males and females. In this same study, 80% of ruptures occurred during recreational sports, with basketball being the main culprit (Lemme et al, 2018). In the professional athlete population, 30% of athletes did not return to play followi

Patella dislocation is a relatively common injury in young male and female athletes playing change of direction sports. As you can in this video, the patella can go back in easy, but unfortunately 1/3 of patients will experience recurrences despite rehabilitation (Moiz et al, 2018). One must question though; what was the rehabilitation quality like? And did they pass a series of strength and functional tests and subjective questionnaires similiar to what is required of ACLR