Most serious basketball injuries come from jumping, landing, cutting and stopping, not from shooting form. In one basketball study, landing was the most common way ankles got hurt (45% of ankle injuries), and NATA notes that female players in sports like basketball have 4 to 6 times the ACL injury risk of male players. This lesson trains the landing habits research links to ACL injury: landing stiff, landing on one leg when you could use two, and the knee caving inward (valgus). It is injury-prevention training, not medical advice, and no technique makes you injury-proof.
Land soft and bent
On rebounds, jump stops and jump shots, land on both feet when the play lets you, weight even. In a lab study, single-leg landings showed less knee and hip bend and higher landing forces than two-foot landings, and the author concluded they may carry higher ACL risk.
two feet down, weight shared.
Land softly: bend your knees and hips as your feet touch down. These are the cues the NATA position statement uses. A quiet landing is the sign you are absorbing the force instead of taking it through straight legs.
quiet feet, hips sinking back and down.
Make the bend a habit, not a reaction. In video of 39 basketball ACL injuries, the injury was estimated at 17 to 50 milliseconds after the foot hit the floor, which is far too fast to fix on the way down. You only get the landing you have practiced.
Knees over toes
Keep your knees over your toes. Don't let them cave in toward each other or let your thigh swing inward. NATA lists excessive knee valgus, hip adduction and hip rotation, plus too little knee and hip bend, as modifiable ACL risk patterns.
kneecaps pointing the same way as your toes.
Hold that knee line when you get bumped. In the 39-case basketball video study, half of the female cases involved a collision or push just before the injury, and the authors advise training knee control with game-like distractions.
Train one-leg landings too, because layups and lateral moves force them. A basketball meta-analysis found the ACL programs it reviewed were mostly two-leg, straight-ahead work and called for more single-leg and side-to-side tasks. Same rule on one leg: soft, bent, knee over the toes.
Train it and prevent
Do a multicomponent prevention program with feedback on your technique and at least 3 of: strength, plyometrics (jumping and landing), agility, balance and flexibility. NATA advises 2 to 3 times a week through preseason and in-season, every year, and says it can be done as a 10 to 15 minute warm-up.
Progress only while your landings stay clean. NATA says intensity should be challenging but still allow excellent movement quality. When your knees start caving or landings get loud, make it easier or stop the set.
Get a trained eye on it. NATA advises these programs be supervised by someone skilled at spotting faulty movement patterns, such as a coach, athletic trainer or physical therapist. If you have had an ACL injury, these programs are specifically recommended for you, and you should clear landing drills with whoever is managing your rehab.
Look after your ankles too. Players with a past ankle injury were almost 5 times more likely to injure an ankle in a basketball study. In the basketball meta-analysis, prevention programs (largely balance work) cut ankle sprains, and bracing may help; ask an athletic trainer what fits you.
Feel it
Soft, quiet, two-footed landings with your knees and hips bending together and your knees staying over your toes, even when you get bumped. Be honest about what this does and doesn't buy you. Across sports, NATA reports prevention programs cut ACL injuries by about 51 to 62%, but the one basketball-specific meta-analysis (only 3 ACL studies, all in female players) found no ACL reduction, while it did find fewer ankle sprains and lower-limb injuries. A front-view phone video shows a flat, 2D picture of your knee line. It is useful for spotting obvious caving and tracking your own habit, but it only partly matches 3D lab measures, and even full 3D lab testing could not predict which of 710 elite female players would tear an ACL. Treat it as a habit check, not a risk score.
Fix-its
- Your knees cave inward (valgus) Slow it down: land from a lower height, stick and hold each landing, and cue "knees over toes". Add height and speed back only when the knees stay in line. Strength work is one of NATA's program components.
- You land stiff and loud Cue "land softly, bend your knees and hips". In a 3D study of 205 female soccer, basketball and volleyball players, the 9 who later tore an ACL had landed with more knee valgus, about 20% higher landing force and shorter ground contact.
- You land on one foot when two were available On rebounds and jump stops, get the second foot down. Single-leg landings showed less knee and hip bend and higher forces in the lab.
- Your landings fall apart when you're bumped or rushed Practice with a partner giving light contact or a call to react to, as the basketball video study recommends. Keep the contact light enough that your technique holds.
- You did a prevention program once and stopped NATA advises running it 2 to 3 times a week in preseason and in-season, every year, not just for one season.
Drill
- Two-foot stick landings: small jump in place, land soft on both feet, knees over toes, hold still for a moment. Quality over count.
- Drop landing: step off a low box (screening studies used a 28 cm step), land on both feet, stick it. Then add a jump straight up as soon as you land.
- Single-leg landing: step off the same low box onto one leg and stick it, knee over the toes. Both legs.
- Side-to-side: hop sideways onto two feet, then onto one foot, sticking each landing. This adds the side-to-side work the basketball review said programs were missing.
- Game-like: land a rebound or jump stop while a partner gives a light bump or calls a direction. Film from the front: phone on a tripod about 3 m in front of you at about shin height, whole body in frame (the setup used in a 2D knee-valgus study).
By position
Every position lands: rebounds, contested shots, layups and jump stops. Female players: NATA notes 4 to 6 times the male ACL risk in sports like basketball and strongly advises girls aged 12 to 18 to do a prevention program. Younger players: NATA suggests starting before age 15, with simple cues like "bend your knees".
Sources
- Padua et al. — NATA Position Statement: Prevention of ACL Injury, J Athl Train (2018)
- Taylor et al. — Prevention of Lower Extremity Injuries in Basketball: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Sports Health (2015)
- Krosshaug et al. — Mechanisms of ACL Injury in Basketball: Video Analysis of 39 Cases, Am J Sports Med (2007)
- Hewett et al. — Neuromuscular Control and Valgus Loading of the Knee Predict ACL Injury Risk in Female Athletes, Am J Sports Med (2005)
- Krosshaug et al. — The Vertical Drop Jump Is a Poor Screening Test for ACL Injuries (710 athletes), Am J Sports Med (2016)
- Wang — The Lower Extremity Biomechanics of Single- and Double-Leg Stop-Jump Tasks, J Sports Sci Med (2011)
- McKay et al. — Ankle injuries in basketball: injury rate and risk factors, Br J Sports Med (2001)
- Mizner et al. — Comparison of 2D Measurement Techniques for Predicting Knee Angle and Moment During a Drop Vertical Jump, Clin J Sport Med (2012)
- Munro, Herrington & Carolan — Reliability of 2D Video Assessment of Frontal-Plane Dynamic Knee Valgus, J Sport Rehabil (2012)
Last checked 2026-10-30.