ACL injury in football: a literature overview of the prevention programs.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The ACL prevention programs are addressed to the control and/or modification of the so-called "modifiable risk factors". All these programs focus on different intervention strategies aimed to decrease the ACL injury risk, particularly in female athletes population. PURPOSE: To furnish an overview of the most used ACL injury prevention program through a narrative review. CONCLUSION: In literature there are many reports on prevention programs whose common denominator is the proper alignment of the lower limb joints and proper motor control during movements that are considered at risk for ACL integrity, as the landing phase after a jump. Nevertheless, some programs would appear more effective than others. In any cases a major problem remains the lack of sufficient compliance in respect of prevention programs. Finally, it is important to remember that the ethiology of ACL injuries is multifactorial. For this reason a prevention program able to prevent all the risk situations is utopian. STUDY DESIGN: Narrative review.