GCJ's LEARN TO CROUCH
FOR FEMALE BASKETBALL ATHLETES
by Laura Ramus, P.T., A.T.C.
By playing in a more crouched position, women can protect their knees and also increase their vertical jumps.
WATCH YOUR ANGLES
The more angled your hips, knees and ankles, the softer the landing force on your knee.
1. Hip Angle
Women tend to play sports in a more vertical position. If they bend, they tend to bend at the waist. To protect your knees, keep your torso straighter, but bend more at the hip.
2. Knee Angle
The straighter you leg is when you land, the less force it takes to tear your ACL. "If you can do nothing else but get women to jump and land in a more flexed knee position, that will h elp", says Dr. Edward Wojtys, head of sports medicine at the University of Michigan.
3. Ankle Angle
Cincinnati Sportsmedicine reminds women to jump "straight as an arrow" and land "light as a feather", landing toes to heels and keeping ankles bent. It achieved a 22 percent reduction in landing force with its 6- week sportmetrics program.
 What Does Research Say?
Caraffa, Cerulli and Projetti report that the three main noncontact injury mechanisms are planting and cutting, straight-knee stopping, and one-step landing with the knee hyperextended.
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