Explosive Change of Direction & Reducing Risk of ACL Injury

The Step Stop is an exercise that will help reduce the risk of ACL injury and improve your agility 10 fold. The great thing is the exercise is pretty easy to coach and athletes seem to like the simplicity of the drill. Don’t be fooled by its simplicity though, as once learned it becomes a very potent skill in helping teach athletes to anticipate and deal with ground contact.

The “Step Stop” gets the athlete into the ideal position for optimal deceleration and prepares them to re accelerate in a different direction. There are 3 major benefits to learning this movement:

1. Safety - Athletes contact the ground in a much better biomechanical stance thus putting less stress on the entire system but in particular you’re ACL.

2. Quickness – It enhances the athlete’s ability to stop and start when having to change direction. This is very important in ALL sports.

3. Endurance – Better mechanics reduces the athletes overall energy expenditure and which allows them to move better for longer periods of time.

I would recommend that you practice jumping, shuffling and the cross over into and out of the athletic power position before practicing the directional footwork drills.

Here is how we use the Step Stop Drill