As we enjoy the beautiful, yet somewhat chilly fall and trees lose their leaves, football is coming to a close. Basketball has begun and recently, I’ve started seeing some of our basketball players with injuries. On the topic of injury prevention for basketball, I wanted to share with you how there have been some tremendous advances in understanding how ACL injuries occur in some athletes. Nowhere is this more evident than in young female athletes. By studying the way young basketball players’ jump, exercises can be implemented to improve “takeoff and landing” mechanics. These exercises have been shown to significantly decrease noncontact ACL injuries in both young male and female athletes! These programs are best started in the preseason and incorporated throughout the year as part of normal warm-ups. The core features of these programs are to work on concepts such as landing Knee over Toe, core stability, plyometric training, neuromuscular and proprioceptive control. The take-home message is that we have some great tools to help our young athletes decrease their chances of getting injured when playing the sports they love.