Essentials for ACL Rehab

When it comes to ACL rehab, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of a holistic approach that includes maximizing your range of motion, a heavy focus on quad and glute strengthening, and intentional drills and exercises to develop your ability to be agile and explosive while on the court or field. As a coach and physical therapist, I have seen countless cases of athletes who fail to achieve a successful outcome because they neglect one or more of these key components during their rehab.

Manage Pain, swelling, and range of motion

During the early phases, managing joint swelling and range of motion is crucial in ACL rehab. After surgery, the knee joint may become stiff, leading to limited range of motion and swelling. To combat this, stretching exercises and swelling management strategies are a must. Static and dynamic stretching can both be effective in improving range of motion, but be sure to start gradually and progress slowly to avoid over-stretching the knee joint to avoid aggravating the knee

Develop Quad Strength

Secondly, quad strengthening is paramount in ACL rehab. The quads are a vital muscle group responsible for a strong and stable knee. It's essential to incorporate exercises that strengthen the quads through gradual progression in resistance over time and in ways that mimic your sport.

Improve agility and explosiveness

In the middle and later phases of rehab, a key factor is focusing on improving agility and explosiveness — aka ‘rate of force production’. At these stages, we often incorporate exercises that specifically develop these muscular qualities with the ultimate goal of incorporating sport specific drills to get you back to feeling fast and strong.

optimize running/jumping/cutting

In the final stages, we focus heavily on developing elastic strength and confidence with running and cutting. This is crucial for explosive movements, jumping/landing, and quick changes of direction. We typically do this through progressing through a number of jumping, cutting, and reactive sport-specific drills.

Rigorous Return to Sport Testing

The vast majority of physical therapy clinics do NOT perform adequate testing to ensure that you are safe to return to your sport. Typically, this involves frequently assessing your quad strength, jumping and landing quality, and ensuring your are performing standardized speed and agility drills at the same level or better than athletes in your sport and age group. If you’re deciding where to do your ACL physical therapy in Pasadena, CA — pick a place that performs extensive testing and can give you the confidence of returning to your sport safely. We do this with each and every one of our ACL patients.

Need ACL Physical Therapy and Rehab in Pasadena, CA?

This gives a general overview of what ACL rehab looks like at The Movement Clinic PT and Performance. We make sure to build your body up to be ready to return to your sport feeling strong, fast, and confident. Need ACL physical therapy in Los Angeles or Pasadena, CA? Let’s chat and get you started with getting back to 100%.