Damaged your ACL?

Your knees are one of the most common parts of your body to be injured in Motocross. The Peninsula Medicine Group states, "You do not need an ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) to live a normal life or race a motorbike." Surprised? Me too. How can they have come to that conclusion?

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Our knees are a joint we take for granted. They're intricate and complex but when it comes to use of our knees in motocross, we don't use them for a specific type of movement. Let me explain...our knees are designed to be able to pivot and change direction quickly, therefore it needs support to complete these actions, and that's what your ACL does. It stabilizes the knee joint in order to allow for this pivot movement and to prevent the risk of injury. Without the ACL and playing a sport like rugby/football, it would prove to be very challenging as you're constantly changing direction, therefore it needs this stability to be able to support your sudden movements. Motocross however, does not involve the pivot movement.

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If injury occurs in your knee, more specifically your ACL there are a number of things you can do before considering ACL reconstruction. "A common belief is that you will have ongoing issues or the knee will degenerate faster without surgery. This is simply not the case; research shows that long term no there is no difference in quality of life or knee damage, suggesting any long term damage is a result of the initial injury not due to repeated trauma." - Peninsula Medicine Group.

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If you've chosen NOT to have a reconstruction -

- Reduce the swelling

- Physiotherapy to gain any loss in range of movement

- Ease your way into strength, power and stability training

These are some of the most common ways to regain the level of strength you had in your knee, before the injury.

If you've HAD reconstruction surgery and need to strengthen your knee -

- Focus on stability exercises to strengthen your knee

- Look to improve your strength around your knee, in your quads (top of your leg at the front) & hamstrings (top of your legs at the back).

Now, I've been over the fundamentals of ACL damage, I hope you've found this helpful and if you would like to get in contact pleas either leave a comment or email me via NrG.Fitness@outlook.com

All specific information sourced from -

Ocean view Physiotherapy - May 3 2017

Jon Park - Chief Sports Physiotherapist Racesafe Director Peninsula Sports Medicine Group

Neve Gillane,

NrG FItness.