Strengthen your core, reduce your injury risk

The CORE Sports Enhancement and Injury Reduction Program is a comprehensive exercise regimen designed to strengthen the core or midsection of an athlete. It is tailored to decrease – and even prevent – ACL tears and other lower-extremity injuries, particularly in the more injury prone female athlete, while significantly improving athletic performance.

Female athletes suffer ACL tears up to 8 times more often than male athletes participating in the same sports. Seventy percent of ACL tears are non-contact injuries which typically occur as an athlete lands from a jump or stops abruptly to pivot. It is estimated that 38,000 ACL injuries occur in female athletes per year in the US at an estimated annual cost of $646 million.

Studies show that neuromuscular control and knee joint position at landing appear to be the most important reasons for the different injury rates between genders. Video analysis reveals that females tend to land from a jump differently than males in a more upright, "knock-kneed" posture. This "at-risk" position makes the knee more vulnerable to ACL injury.