Are Plyometrics Dangerous for Young Athletes?

“Plyometrics can build significant power in young athletes, but can also open the door to serious injury if done wrong.”

As most know, plyometrics is an mode of exercise using speed and force to build power.

Plyometrics can be used for upper and lower body power development.

However, after 20 years of athlete coaching..

I can say almost ALL young athletes, or new to training athletes lack stability.

And without stability, specifically for jumps and bounds, knee buckle and collapsed ankles happen.

Is knee buckle that bad of a thing??

Big time.

Many knee injuries, including anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, are highly linked with a knee valgus position (knee buckle).

So, to avoid your son or daughter injuring their knees, make sure they first build stability and develop proper landing skills. Landing, or absorbing force requires stability, are priority one for safely using plyometrics in future years.

Here are two examples of improving landing skills, and strengthening hip stability to prevent knee buckle during jumps.

Notice in the above drill, the focus is not on maximizing jump power, but the quality of landing.

Few notes based on these 2 videos:

1. Always start with a low object to jump over i.e. disc cone

2. With lateral band walks, start with level 1 (band above knees, then progress to level 2 (ankles) and feet (level 3).

Does your son or daughter knee buckle?

Here's a simple test:

Have them to balance on 1 leg for 10s. Watch from the front and see if their knee buckles.

If it does, they knee hip stability and should avoid explosive jumps.

But once they do build that stability, with the right progression, adding more vertical jump height and power in all directions comes much faster.

Reg