Exercises Female Athletes Should Be Doing For Injury Prevention: Lateral Toe Walks

23 Feb Exercises Female Athletes Should Be Doing For Injury Prevention: Lateral Toe Walks

The quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes get a lot of love when training female athletes for ACL injury prevention.

One muscle group we cannot ignore are the calves, secondary muscles to providing stability of the knee and elevating joint compression. The calf muscles cross between the ankle joint and knee, so they need to be the stronghold of the lower extremity.

In a study done by Mokhtarzadeh et al, ACL injury risk during single-leg landing is influenced by the Soleus . The role of the ankle plantarflexors should be considered when developing training strategies for ACL injury prevention.

Here is an exercise that strengthens the calves, as well as fires the pelvic stabilizers:

To join the private mentorship community and get the Total Youth Female Athlete Fitness video course – learn how to teach female athletes strength technique, speed, and change of direction mechanics for injury reduction and performance, as well as learn about growth and maturation considerations, menstrual cycle, nutrition, and so much more go HERE

To Work With Me in person in Tampa, Florida for private and small group soccer speed, strength and conditioning training, get in touch HERE.

REFERENCE

Mokhtarzadeh, H., Yeow, C. H., Hong Goh, J. C., Oetomo, D., Malekipour, F., & Lee, P. V. (2013). Contributions of the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles to the anterior cruciate ligament loading during single-leg landing. Journal of biomechanics, 46(11), 1913–1920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2013.04.010