Projo Fitness Blog

As I've reported before, I am a Steelers fan living in New England.

And although I've "hated" (in a competitive way) the New England Patriots in the years that they've gotten the better of my beloved team, that didn't mean I didn't gasp, in anguish, when I saw the footage of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's possibly season-ending injury in Sunday's game against the Chiefs.

The full report isn't in yet, but early guesses are he's torn his ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is one of four ligaments that are critical to the stability of the knee joint.

This injury is common in high-impact sports, such as football, and also occurs more often in women than men. It causes very painful damage that requires months of treatment. Prevention is better than treatment after the fact.

So when exercising or participating in sports, we must treat our knees, and the ligaments surrounding them, with care. One of the best ways to prevent this injury is to build up the muscles around the knees with exercise.

Leg presses and bent-knee lifts (sitting with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle, and slowly raising and lowering your legs for 10 reps one at a time), will help build stability around those aptly named "crucial" joints.

Believe me, knee injury is painful and hard to overcome quickly. About 15 years ago, after my oldest son was born, I injured myself doing step aerobics. Bad technique was to blame. After months of pain that got me out of my fitness routine, I started working on my sitting exercises, and then worked up to better leg lifts. It worked. But I was sorry I hadn't started that first, before I got hurt.

Providence Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson

 Tags  ACL football injuries knee Pittsburgh Steelers Tom Brady

Comments

Mark Salinas said:

This injury will definitely hurt the Pats. chances.
Nice post...go Vikes!

Link | September 8, 2008 2:36 PM
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