ACL Injury In Female Athletes

The incidence and prevalence rate of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female athletes continues to increase over time (Prodromos, Han, Rogowski, Joyce, & Shi, 2007). With the growing rate in the amount of young women participating in sports, data has shown that the rate of ACL injury increases linearly with this participation ("The Relationship Between Static Posture and ACL Injury in Female Athletes," 1996). This epidemic of ACL injuries in female athletes, young or old, continues to be problematic in the athletic world. This problem not only affects the athlete themselves, but also the coaches and the sports medicine community.

There are two occurrences of ACL injuries, contact and non-contact. An ACL injury through contact

has a low rate of incidence (Prodromos et al., 2007). Non-contact is the primary way that an ACL injury occurs in female sports (Prodromos et al., 2007). The sports that these injuries are familiar in are primarily basketball, soccer, and volleyball (Agel, Arendt, & Bershadsky, 2005). These sports involve a lot of jumping and landing that result in torques and forces being applied to the knee. These sports also involve a lot of pivoting motions. Female athletes that jump, land, and pivot often in sports have a two to ten times more likeliness to having an ACL injury occur than males who are involved in these sports ("The Relationship Between Static Posture and ACL Injury in Female Athletes," 1996).
Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the power, intensity, and speed performed by female athletes. This intensity, power, and speed can be seen while watching the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. This increase in aggressive playing talent has led to not only an increase in musculoskeletal injuries, but also ACL injuries. The more common ACL injury that has the highest occurrence is a rupture or sprain of the ACL.
The ACL plays a vital role in many sports. Straight-ahead sports like biking, swimming, and jogging tend to place very little stress on the ACL. Sports such as soccer, volleyball and basketball involve planting, cutting and changing direction (Agel et al., 2005). These motions, in which the ACL plays a vital role, put female athletes at greatest risk of ACL injury. Stiff knee landing is also a common motion that results in injury to the ACL (Ireland, 1999). This injury occurs when the athlete is landing from a jump and does not have and adequate amount of hip and knee flexion to absorb the landing shock (Gilchrist et al., 2008).
In society there is a big motion on being healthy. Many women and their children are following the guidelines to living a healthier life, and to be active. However, along with this healthier lifestyle, the occurrences of ACL injuries are increasing. While health professionals are suggesting that individuals exercise, there is a lack in providing preventative measures to females ("The Relationship Between Static Posture and ACL Injury in Female Athletes," 1996). Too often we hear stories of a woman who injured her knee while skiing, or of an elite female athlete injuring her knee. Through research, it has been proven that these issues can be avoided by taking preventative measures with proper training (Hewett, Ford, & Myer, 2006). The purpose of this study is to address the growing incidence of ACL injuries in female athletes and preventative measures that have been introduced, and successful, to aiding in the prevention of occurrence or re-occurrence of an ACL injury.