The Jump Doctor

🚨 “Knees caving in causes injuries.”

But what if it’s not that simple?

For years, dynamic knee valgus (the inward movement of the knee during jumping, landing, and cutting) has been treated as the villain behind ACL tears and knee injuries. Yet emerging research suggests the relationship may be far more complex.

Athletes don’t compete in perfect laboratory conditions. They move in chaotic, unpredictable environments where adaptation, strength, coordination, and load tolerance matter just as much as movement mechanics.

So instead of asking:
❌ “Does the knee move inward?”

Maybe we should be asking:
✅ How much load can the athlete tolerate?
✅ Can they control that movement?
✅ Are they strong enough to handle the demands of their sport?

This isn’t about saying dynamic knee valgus is good or bad.

It’s about thinking critically, questioning assumptions, and recognizing that human movement is rarely black and white.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

Do you think dynamic knee valgus has been overemphasized in sports medicine and performance training?

👇 Drop your opinion in the comments.

Work speaks 🗣️

Most athletes don’t have a performance problem… they have a training problem.

If your athlete wants to:
✔ Jump higher
✔ Move faster
✔ Stay healthy all season

They need the right system—not more random workouts.

Train with pwd by The Jump Doctor™️

For years, parents have been told:
“Don’t let your athlete’s knees go over their toes.”

Sounds protective… right?

But that advice comes from outdated research that only looked at knee stress in isolation—not how the entire body actually moves.

Here’s what we now understand:

When the knees travel forward during a squat, yes—there is increased load on the knee joint.
But that’s not a bad thing… that’s how the body builds strength and resilience.

👉 When you force the knees to stay back, you don’t eliminate stress—you shift it.
And where does it go?

➡️ The hips
➡️ The lower back

In fact, modern biomechanical research shows that restricting natural knee movement can dramatically increase stress on other joints.

Now think about your athlete in real life:

Running.
Jumping.
Landing.
Walking up stairs.

Their knees go over their toes every single time.

So the goal isn’t to avoid that position…
It’s to prepare them for it.

Because the athletes who get hurt aren’t the ones who use these positions—
They’re the ones who aren’t strong enough in them.

Train movement.
Build capacity.
Stop fearing normal human mechanics.

That’s how you actually protect your athlete.

❌Stop calling it tendonitis.
That mindset is why athletes stay stuck.
⠀
Most knee pain isn’t inflammation—it’s capacity failure.
⠀
And not all “jumper’s knee” is even the same injury.
⠀
🔑If you want to fix it… you have to understand it first.

Jumper’s knee is one of the MOST misunderstood injuries in sports.

And most athletes are doing the exact things that keep it around longer.

So I’m breaking it all down—step by step.

🎥 New Series: Jumper’s Knee—What Actually Works

▪️Why your knee still hurts
▪️What most rehab gets WRONG
▪️What to do (and when) to actually fix it
▪️How to get back to jumping stronger than before

If you’re a volleyball or basketball athlete (or a parent of one)… this is for you.

Follow along. This will change how you approach knee pain.

Parents — this is something most people don’t realize.

👉 Many ACL injuries happen without contact
👉 And a large percentage are preventable

I wrote a blog breaking down the best exercises to help reduce ACL injury risk in young athletes.

Inside, I cover:

• The most common strength deficits
• Simple exercises that build protection and control

This is the exact foundation we use with athletes at Elevate Sports Performance pwd by The Jump Doctor™.

If you want to help your athlete stay healthy and perform at a high level…

📖 Check out the full blog:
https://thejumpdoc.com/blog/f/the-best-exercises-to-help-prevent-acl-injuries-in-young-athletes

OR

📩 DM “ACL” and I’ll send it directly + help you figure out next steps for elite performance training.

Volleyball athletes jump 300–500 times per match.

If your body isn’t trained for that load, knee pain and performance plateaus happen.

At Elevate Sports Performance pwd by The Jump Doctor™, we help volleyball athletes:

🏐 Jump higher
⚡ Move quicker
🦵 Eliminate knee pain

Our training is built specifically for the demands of volleyball.

📍 Charleston Area

Female athletes are significantly more likely to tear their ACL than male athletes in the same sports.

🔑 But targeted strength and movement training can dramatically reduce injury risk.

Parents: prevention training may be one of the most important investments you make in your athlete’s future.

Read my full blog post on our website:

“ACL Tears in Girls’ Sports: Why Female Athletes Are at Higher Risk - and How Proper Training Can Help Prevent Them”
- Aaron Brown, PT, DPT, ATC, CSCS
pwd by

Send me a DM for more information on our training approach‼️

Back on the rim… and better than before. 🏀

Post-op rehab shouldn’t just get athletes back to sport—it should make them better than they were before the injury.

Strength. Mechanics. Confidence.
That’s what high-quality rehab looks like.

Built through the process. ⬆️