As of the writing of this blog, the FIFA Women’s World Cup is well
underway. The strength and athleticism of these soccer athletes are matched
equally by their hearts – for the game and their teammates, which
is why it always breaks my heart when one of them is sidelined by an ACL
injury. In fact, at this time, more than a dozen female professional soccer
athletes have sustained an ACL injury over the past two years that has
ruled them out of playing in the World Cup.
Throughout my career, I have studied, worked with esteemed colleagues,
and written extensively about the preponderance of ACL injury in female
athletes. It remains true that female athletes specifically have a more
than three times higher risk of injuring their ACL than male athletes.
And sadly, ACL tears can have more prolonged healing and rehabilitation
times that are often “season-ending” injuries. Complete rehabilitation
can take as long as 6-9 months. It may result in the athlete being unable
to play at prior skill and intensity levels, which can also be psychologically
challenging. Alongside developing gold standards for treating and rehabilitating
ACL injuries, our orthopedic medical community focuses on preventing injuries
before they occur.
It’s important to note here that a variety of factors have been deemed
to make female athletes more susceptible to ACL injury than men –
certain anatomical features, hormones, and typical female body mechanics
have a role to play. But none of these precludes female athletes from
working on ways to protect their knees and prevent injury.
My journey into preventive orthopedic medicine for female athletes is a
long time in the making. More than 20 years ago, a team of orthopedic
experts and I started to see a pattern in evaluating and treating ACL
injuries in increasing numbers of young female athletes. We were increasingly
fascinated that many of the ACL injuries we saw weren’t the result
of a hard fall or other blunt-force trauma to the knee. Instead, they
seemed to correlate with how the athlete would jump, land or decelerate.
In athletes who also had hip and leg strength deficiencies, the upper
legs would turn in. The movement would then cause too much strain on the
ACL and sometimes would result in an ACL tear.
To address this pervasive ACL injury trend, I was part of an outstanding
medical team that developed an ACL Injury-Prevention program. The program
includes a knee-specific warm-up, as well as plyometric and agility training
to combat the possible deficiencies in strength and coordination of the
stabilizer muscles that surround the knee joint. We named the program
“PEP” to
Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance.
Now more than ever, scientific and rehabilitative medicine is showing us
that paying attention to strengthening the hips, thighs, and hamstrings
is strong protection for the knees. I’m here to tell you, with multiple
years of study data to back up the claim, these programs work. A PEP training
program promotes better strength, posture, and control for athletes. Even
if you aren’t a professional soccer player, preventive training
to reduce injury risk is a solid concept. Of course, it won’t prevent
every single ACL tear in the sport, but it will absolutely prevent some
– and that alone is worth the effort and attention.
Sources:
https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/more-and-more-young-female-athletes-sidelined-acl-injuries
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/18/sport/womens-world-cup-acl-injury-spt-intl/index.html