It is fresh in all our memories on how quickly a season can end with a knee injury. It happens thousands of time every season, with most being non-contact injuries.
Many times non-contact injuries are something that might not have been helped. There was simply a predisposition for the injury to occur. There are definite measures we can take to reduce the risk.
One of the measures I personally believe can be taken to reduce the risk of injury is proper technique. When an athlete loads the system correctly through proper posture the chances of injury should be reduced.
Let’s take a look at a cut or a lateral change of direction move. When an athlete uses correct technique you will almost always see the ankle joint being dorsiflexed by pushing the knees forward BUT ALLOWING THE HEEL TO STAY DOWN. Notice I did not say push the knees forward and have the heel come way up off the floor. We should also see the hip being pushed back and the shoulder pushed forward (with a flat back) to load the glutes and hamstrings (and all posterior muscles). When the ankles are loaded, the hips are loaded and as a result the muscles are on tension we are more stable and able to move safer.
Let’s now look at a poor posture that can invite injury potential to increase. The athlete pushes the knees forward but allows the heels to come up. The hips become sucked under the center of mass not allowing the critical hip/glute muscles to turn on effectively and the shoulders stay vertical not aiding in loading the posterior chain muscles. Wow! Talk about a recipe for disaster!
It only takes about three minutes each day to reinforce the proper technique. Here is a simple progression you can use to get your athletes on the path to success, not injury:
- Proper static athletic stance- loading ankles, knee, hips…
- Toe drops into proper athletic stance (jump landing stance) start tall on toes and quickly drop into the stance your want. There shouldn’t be any valgus action at knees.
- Six inch mini jumps and stick landing- have athlete jump up and stick landing. The key to all landings is to get under control in one second or less.
- Multidirectional landings- have the athletes perform medium level jumps forward, sideways, angled and backwards always landing in the proper posture
I would love to hear your feedback on how this works for you. I have used it for years and can say my teams have been extremely healthy.
Yours in Speed,
Lee
P. S. – To learn exactly how to get your athletes in the proper stance for any direction of movement, be the best coach you can be and keep your athletes off the sideline… I highly recommend GroundBreaking 2.
[...] 1. Strength coach Lee Taft, who trains Jimmer, talks about the proper cutting technique for basketba… [...]
Lee, I’ve been a big fan of yours for many years and have purchased almost everything you’ve put out and I love everything about it. I’ve been doing most of the drills since the early 70′s. I started coaching H.S. in 1972 and had done plyo’s, low box stuff, speed jump ropes, mental imagery, but never had a name for the drills. I just called it box jumps and basketball conditioning. Now (let’s jump ahead)I am at BYU-Hawaii coaching the Women’s Basketball Team and this past year had 3 players go down with ACL tears. I’ve been very careful with how we were teaching our athletes on let’s say in changing direction or landing and the position of their knees as to where the ankle and hips are placed. Together, all of our athletic teams, we had a total of 11 ACL surgeries. Is this quite much? I’ve never been around a program that had this many ACL tears. I am confused but don’t want to blame anyone, especially our strenth and conditioning coach. Is there something we are doing wrong. My players were involved in non contact, just chasing down a loose ball for 2 of them and the other was just sprinting up the court. I need closure cause it hurt me to see them to go through the surgeries.
Thanks for your help!!
I also was on a recruiting trip and stopped over to watch a BYU Provo men’s practice during Jimmers senior year and introduced myself and told him I knew you through ordering your training techniques. He deserved all acolades and more will come. I have a son on a mission now and comes home in Oct. and will play here at BYUH and will get him ready to play. He is the best shooter to come out of Hawaii since, who nows when. I know we put out Football players here but he (not because I’m his Dad & coach) could be a player!!!
Mahalo for your help!!!
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