Don't Let Knee / Ankle Injuries Sideline You This Basketball Season
Knee and ankle injuries are amongst the most common injuries that occur during basketball. Contact injuries are often not preventable, but non-contact injuries can be prevented in-part by proper strength and endurance training, use of a good dynamic warm-up, and awareness of body mechanics with jumping/landing and change of direction.
Good body mechanics for jumping and landing include good knee bend (the knee is not stiff/straight and the butt is down), good vertical knee position (not allowing the knee to cave-in or rotate-in), a level pelvis (without dropping on the side opposite of the one you’re standing on), and a good trunk position (where your shoulder is not too far outside of your foot, and your hip does not sway too far laterally).
Simple tests like single leg balance, double leg squats, single leg squats, double leg vertical (or drop) jumping and single leg hopping can reveal a lot about body mechanics and underlying weakness or lack of awareness of body position in space (poor proprioception). Single leg bridges and planks can tell us about trunk control and core strength.
Jumping, landing and cutting sports are the ones with the greatest risk for injuries like ACL tears. Prevention and performance require strength (quads, hamstrings, glutes and core), balance/proprioception and body control in space. A good warm-up will be dynamic (high knees, butt kicks etc) rather than static (prolonged stretching), and will include some sport specific tasks on both 2 legs and 1 (double leg and single leg squatting). It will include tasks like jumping, shuffling or changes of direction specifically required for your sport.
It is important to warm up properly prior to practice/play. It is also in your interest to know if you have issues with strength/endurance/balance or body position to prevent injuries. If you would like an evaluation of what could be addressed to help improve performance and reduce the risk of injury, please feel free to reach out to us and one of our physical therapists can help develop an individualized program with your goals in mind.
