One of the most common significant injuries that have arisen in the NBA over the last several years has dealt with the ACL.

This type of injury has generally been believed to be connected to being heavily influenced by the larger workloads on the floor subsequently increasing the amount of wear and tear on the body leading to injury. However, Orthopedics Today is reporting that a recent study revealed that is not the case as the number of ACL injuries did not increase with the number of minutes played in a game by the players.

Results published in Orthopedics showed the risk for ACL injury among players did not increase with the number of minutes played in a single National Basketball Association game.

The study conducted used various factors to make the determination such as minutes played in the injury game and during the career of more than 80 NBA players who suffered an ACL injury from 1984 to 2015. They also looked at how the players played upon returning from the injury.

It was determined in the study that players that played in fewer minutes often suffered the ACL injury. This is also revealed that there was a 95 percent return rate for players who had that ailment and played in significantly more minutes than prior to the injury.

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“There is a common misperception that NBA players tear their ACLs at the end of games, when they are tired or when playing too many minutes. Our study evaluated risk factors for ACL injury in the NBA player and found that the amount of minutes played was not a significant contributor to ACL injury risk,” Kelechi R. Okoroha, MD,told Healio.com/Orthopedics. “Additionally, we found a high rate of return to play (95%) after ACL injury in NBA players. Those who were elite athletes played more minutes per game after returning, and players suffered a decrease in player efficiency rating.”

This should dispel much of the misperception of why the injuries occur in situations where it is quite the opposite in terms of minute workload. What this does more than anything is bring more attention toward making sure the players are well prepared physically to play in games.