ACL Injury Prevention Program

For more about ACL injury prevention,
call Sister Kenny Sports & Physical Therapy Center at
763-684-3880.

Sister Kenny Sports & Physical Therapy Center – Buffalo offers area student athletes an ACL injury prevention program called PEP (Prevent injury, Enhance Performance). PEP is a highly specific 15-minute training session. It was developed by a team of physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers and coaches at Santa Monica Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Group and is now used around the country.

The program's main focus is educating players on strategies to avoid injury and includes specific exercises to improve biomechanical techniques in jumping, stopping and turning to reduce ACL injuries.

The goals of the program are to:

• avoid vulnerable positions
• increase flexibility
• increase strength
• include plyometric exercises into the training program
• increase proprioception though agilities

Most program exercises and drills are already part of a team's standard training. However, it requires attention to detail on the part of players, coaches and trainers. Ideally, the program is performed at least two times per week during the season.

PEP (Prevent injury, Enhance Performance) consists of a warm-up, stretching, strengthening, plyometrics, and sport specific agilities to address potential deficits in the strength and coordination of the stabilizing muscles around the knee joint.