Performance readiness after ACL injury: What we are learning from assessing an envelope of muscular strength.

Presentation description

This presentation by Dr. Matt Jordan investigates why returning to sport after an ACL rupture does not equate to true performance readiness, presenting longitudinal evidence that performance stagnation can persist two to three years post-injury across multiple sports. Matt introduces the concept of an “envelope of muscular strength,” demonstrating how force plate-based testing — including loaded jump testing, repeat hop testing with varied constraints, and isokinetic dynamometry — can comprehensively map neuromuscular capacities beyond standard bilateral countermovement jumps. The presentation culminates in a machine learning framework applied to university athlete data, using unsupervised clustering to define healthy performance profiles and supervised classification to assign ACL-injured athletes a probability of belonging to an optimal control group, offering a paradigm shift away from traditional limb symmetry indices.

Learning objectives

• Understand why limb symmetry indices are insufficient standalone benchmarks for post-ACL performance readiness, and how contralateral limb detraining can mask persistent deficits in both limbs.
• Apply force plate-based assessments — including loaded jumps at 60% body mass and constrained repeat hop testing — to evaluate a broader envelope of muscular strength encompassing eccentric, concentric, and plyometric capacities.
• Interpret how unsupervised and supervised machine learning can identify distinct athlete strength profiles within a healthy control population and quantify the probability that an ACL-injured athlete has restored their full performance profile.

About the presenter

Dr. Matt Jordan is a strength and conditioning coach and researcher at the University of Calgary, holding a PhD in medical science and a master’s degree in muscle physiology, with his lab’s work centred on how injuries such as ACL rupture affect muscle mechanics and performance. He has worked extensively in Olympic sport — particularly alpine ski racing — before transitioning his research focus to field and court sport athletes at the university level, collaborating with PhD and master’s students to build large longitudinal datasets. Beyond academia, Jordan serves as the Chief Scientific Advisor at Plantiga Technologies, an IMU-based wearable insole company, and delivers online education to sports scientists and clinicians through jordanstrength.com.

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CEU information

Contact hours

• Reading time = 10 minutes
• Video length = 44 minutes
• Quiz = 10 minutes
• Total contact hours (rounded down to nearest 0.25 hr) = 1.00

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