At Big Bend Strength and Conditioning, we have a simple test we use to assess how likely an athlete is receive an ACL or Achilles Tendon Injury while playing on the field, court, or track. Obviously, because field, court, and track sports are open chain, we can't predict whether an injury will or won't happen, but we CAN get a better idea of who is MORE likely to based on their performance in the weight room.

The test we use is just a simple sled push, however, we have two points of performance we look for that can indicate a ton.

1) Can the athlete keep an active foot? An active foot just means to pull the foot up into dorsiflexion, and maintain it with each step. An athlete who cannot MAINTAIN dorsiflexion typically has a weak glute-hamstring, and overuses the calves to propel themselves forward.

2) Does the athlete lock their knees on each step even when instructed not to? This one is less of an indicator, but still indicative of over dominant quads and weak hamstrings, which CAN lead to overextending the knees when sprinting, which isn't the worst, but still not idea without the proper structural muscles to back it up with hamstrings and glutes.

Check out this YouTube video to see a demonstration of the exercise and a good vs. bad demonstration!