September 2026

Q&A

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What is the single most common injury you see in youth and high school basketball players today?

The most common injury youth basketball players face are ankle sprains, without question. They account for roughly one fifth of basketball injuries, which makes sense in a sport built on cutting, jumping and landing. The most classic ankle sprain is a lateral sprain – when your foot rolls inward and the ligaments on the outside of the ankle stretch or tear. What concerns me isn’t the first sprain, it’s the fourth. Too many young athletes tape up, get back on the floor and never rehabilitate properly. That’s how a player can end up with recurrent sprains, instability, loss of motion and strength as well as altered mechanics. It is possible for recurrent injury to cause cartilage or other joint injury over time. In young skeletally immature players, we also have to remember that they can have growth plate fractures that look like a sprain.  

What can athletes do to reduce their risk of ACL and other serious knee injuries?

To reduce the risk of ACL and other serious injuries, athletes should try to train landing, deceleration, cutting and single leg control. Most ACL tears in basketball are non-contact. When an athlete decelerates, the knee may move into a high-risk position that can include inward collapse, insufficient hip/trunk control and a relatively extended knee during a plant, cut or landing. Structured prevention programs combining plyometrics, hip and hamstring strengthening, balance work, landing techniques, trunk control, deceleration/cutting and feedback have been shown to cut ACL injury rates substantially, particularly in female athletes, who face several times the risk of their male counterparts. The catch is being consistent with the program. The benefits require a regular well-coached program because doing it once as a warmup isn’t enough.  

What role does sleep, hydration and nutrition play in injury prevention and recovery?

Sleep, hydration and nutrition are foundational to injury prevention and recovery. Research in adolescent athletes getting chronic sleep of less than eight hours a night has been associated with significantly higher injury rates. Sleep supports tissue recovery, learning, reaction time, and decision making. Chronic sleep loss can impair physical and cognitive performance. Dehydration produces some similar performance problems often on a shorter timeline: reduced coordination, earlier fatigue and poorer decision-making late in the game, which can contribute to increased injury risk. Nutrition matters most for what people can’t see. Young athletes who under-fuel their bodies relative to their training load can lose bone density and develop stress injuries.

High-top sneakers vs. low-tops with ankle braces: Which actually offers better protection against sprains?

The evidence for high-top basketball shoes preventing ankle sprains is limited and inconclusive. Lace-up ankle braces have stronger evidence for reducing ankle sprains, especially in basketball athletes and especially after a prior sprain. While athletes may feel high-tops are supportive, one randomized trial in college players found no difference in sprain rates between athletes wearing high-tops vs. low-tops, and another found a two thirds lower acute ankle injury rate in braced athletes. At the end of the day, I’d recommend choosing the shoe that fits well and feels stable. Then consider a lace up ankle brace for a player with a prior sprain, recurrent sprains or chronic instability. This is to be used in conjunction with appropriate rehab.

Ankle sprains are common in basketball — at what point should an athlete stop playing and get evaluated by a professional?

There are a few clear stop signs that should alert an athlete to stop playing and get evaluated. If the athlete can’t bear weight or there’s tenderness directly over the bone rather than the soft tissue, you may want to get evaluated for a possible fracture or growth plate injury. Any obvious deformity, numbness, inability to bear weight, followed by immediate significant swelling warrants a visit to a sports medicine specialist. Beyond that, the player should be assessed promptly by an athletic trainer when available. For a mild injury that is improving, a  short period of protection and guided rehab may be reasonable. Symptoms that are not clearly improving over 3-5 days warrant an exam and often imaging. I’d also flag repeat sprains, even mild ones, because recurrence can point to instability that may not resolve on its own. The instinct to walk it off can turn a two-week injury into a long-term instability problem.

What is one dynamic warm-up movement every hoop player should do before stepping on the court to protect their knees?

A lateral bound with a “stick” landing is one of my favorite warm-up drills for basketball players because it teaches single-leg deceleration and control. Push off one leg, move sideways, land softly on the opposite leg, and hold the landing for about two seconds before returning.

The goal is not distance. The goal is quality: a quiet landing, good trunk control, the knee tracking over the foot and a stable, single-leg position.

This drill trains a movement pattern relevant to basketball – absorbing force during a lateral move or change of direction. Start with 2 sets of 5-8 controlled repetitions per side. Progress speed, distance and reactive elements only when the athlete can consistently land with good control.

One drill will not prevent every ACL injury, but it is a practical way to reinforce the strength, balance, deceleration and movement that quality basketball players need.  It needs to be done consistently though and not occasionally or sporadically.