Did you know there are specific risk factors for many non-contact soccer injuries? Most of these can be prevented, while others such as gender or bone structure cannot. The risk factors that can be prevented include:

• Poor core strength
• Weak hip muscle
• Knee valgocity (an inward angle of your knees when you land from a jump)
• Muscle group imbalances
• Too much training in one sport year-round

A recent research study tested a specific warm-up program designed to prevent knee injuries, a common soccer injury, in college female soccer players by decreasing these common risk factors. The results were powerful! They found that the athletes who regularly performed the warm-up suffered less than half the number of non-contact ACL tears than the athletes who did not perform the warm-up. These results included athletes who already had a history of ACL tear, which puts them at greater risk for tearing the ACL in the other knee. For more specific details, you can check out the article we have attached for your convenience. We have also created and implemented our own Elite Injury Prevention Program.

So what does this soccer injury prevention program consist of, and how often should you do it? Here is a brief overview of the exercises in the program that should be performed at least 3 days per week before starting practice or a game.

Warm-up (50 yards each):
Jog line to line of soccer field (cone to cone)

Shuttle run (side to side)
Backward running

Stretching (30 s × 2 reps each):
Calf stretch
Quadricep stretch
Figure 4 hamstring stretch
Inner thigh stretch
Hip flexor stretch

Strengthening:
Walking lunges (20 yards × 2 sets)
Russian hamstring (3 sets × 10 reps)
Single toe-raises (30 reps on each side)

Plyometrics (20 reps each):
Lateral hops over 2 to 6 inch cone
Forward/backward hops over 2 to 6 inch cone
Single leg hops over 2 to 6 inch cone
Vertical jumps with headers
Scissors jump

Agilities:
Shuttle run with forward/backward running (40 yards)
Diagonal runs (40 yards)
Bounding run (45–50 yards)

For more specific details, we have attached the soccer injury prevention program in its entirety with explanations of each exercise and cues for proper form. Please make sure you look through this thoroughly if you decide to use it.
This is a great program that coaches and athletic trainers could implement in their practice and game preparations to help protect their players from ACL injury. If you are an athlete of any age, consider using the warm-up program to maintain proper muscle balance, avoid injury, and improve performance!

Elite Soccer Injury Prevention Program

ACL Injury Prevention Program

Soccer Injury Prevention Research Article