Did you know that 70-85% of ACL injuries are typically non-contact? Or, that female athletes have a greater risk of ACL injury compared to males playing similar sports?
It seems like every week, you hear about another athlete who tears their ACL. In the NFL, 36 season-ending ACL injuries have been reported this year. Three took place this past Sunday, including a non-contact ACL injury by 49er’s QB Jimmy Garoppolo.
What’s even worse is when it comes from a celebration…
A contact ACL injury seems to justify itself more so than a non-contact ACL injury.
These season-ending injuries can have a huge impact on an athlete. Not only is it a long and costly process, but it can take a toll on you as an individual from a physical and mental standpoint. Take it from someone who has had 2 ACL injuries himself.
I’ve even talked to parents who keep their kids out of sports due to the risk of an ACL tear. After my first ACL injury, my mom begged me to stop playing football and cheer my team on from the stands…HAH, love you Mom, but no way was that happening. I had to come back to play my senior year and it was 100% worth it. My second ACL tear was non-contact and didn’t come till 6 years later – which has fueled me on a path to help those who have suffered this same injury.
So……Can ACL injuries be prevented?
Prevented? Not really. Reduced? Definitely.
Prevention means that we can stop something from happening, which means we can predict it. We’re not quite there yet.
Reduction means we are making it smaller or less in amount, degree or size. We have proof of this.
For simplicity sake, you will still see prevention and reduction used interchangeably, but keep in mind what we discussed above.
A powerful research study came out this year by Webster et al. 2018 – Meta-Analysis of Meta-Analyses of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Reduction Training Programs.
It conclusively shows that 50% of all ACL injuries and 67% of non-contact ACL injuries in females can be reduced with the simple implementation of 2-3x per week of injury reduction/prevention programs.
Some important components of these programs are:
- Dynamic Warm-Ups
- Foundational Strength
- Proprioceptive Training
- Plyometric and Power Development
- Acceleration/Deceleration, Multi-directional
- Sport-Specific Training
In later posts, we will break down these different components of a well-designed injury prevention program.
FAQ
Can ACL injuries be prevented?
Not all ACL injuries can be prevented, but the research is clear that the right training significantly reduces your risk. Structured neuromuscular prevention programs — like the PEP program and FIFA 11+ — have been shown to reduce ACL injury rates by 50–80% in athletes who follow them consistently. Prevention comes down to training your body to move better under load and fatigue, not just getting stronger in the gym.
What percentage of ACL tears are non-contact injuries?
Approximately 70–85% of ACL injuries are non-contact, meaning they happen without any collision — typically during deceleration, landing from a jump, or cutting movements. This is actually good news from a prevention standpoint: if most ACL tears happen because of how an athlete moves, then training better movement patterns is your most direct path to lowering risk.
Are female athletes at higher risk for ACL tears?
Yes. Female athletes experience ACL injuries at 2–8 times the rate of male athletes in the same sport. Contributing factors include anatomical differences (wider Q-angle, smaller notch width), hormonal influences on ligament laxity, and neuromuscular movement patterns — specifically, female athletes tend to land and cut with less knee flexion and more valgus collapse. The good news: these are trainable. Prevention programs specifically designed for female athletes consistently show strong results.
What exercises help reduce ACL injury risk?
The most evidence-backed ACL prevention exercises focus on four areas: plyometric training (jump and landing mechanics), single-leg strength (split squats, step-downs, single-leg RDLs), hip and glute strengthening, and sport-specific cutting and deceleration patterns. Consistency matters more than any single exercise — programs like FIFA 11+ are effective largely because they’re done as a regular warmup, not occasionally. Technique and load management matter just as much as exercise selection.
