Lateral Cutting Faults in ACL Rehab and Prevention

Nice article here by Chris Butler, PT.  Chris brought together his own personal experience with his athletes as well as some of the literature on cutting.  It's important to note the importance of re-teaching cutting post op ACL.  It's apparent that many athletes "cut" wrong to begin with and re-training the cut to be a safe movement is vital in post-op rehabilitation, especially with ACL.  

Chris did a good job of putting a visual together as well which I thought was a nice touch to his article.  Reading the research on the biomechanics of the cutting motion is one thing, but to see it in a picture or video can be very helpful for those visual learners.  


Some additional clinical suggestions:

-  When re-teaching cutting/lateral movements, don't allow the athlete to increase the speed until they can master a slower speed first.  

-  Have the patient use a mirror for visual feedback.  Add a foam roller standing up as a "marker" for where you want the athlete to begin the cut so that they have a visual feedback of where their shoulders are in relation to the foam roller.  This is especially useful for those athletes who don't get their trunk over their hips, knees, and ankles when first starting to re-learn the cut.  

-  If the athlete is still initiating the lateral movement from his/her shoulders vs the hips, practice manual cueing/resistance to the hips as the athlete is about to initiate the lateral direction.  Break down the movement and have the athlete perform a single leg squat and then push off and hop to the side.  Make sure they use their hips rather than shoulders to initiate the movement.  

-  Another way to assist with poor initiation during cutting is to stand on the athletes' cutting leg side and gently pull on the athletes shirt to make sure they are not leaning away to soon when initiating the cut.   

- Brian

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