ACL Injuries

ACLs are one of the easiest injuries to get for athletes and average people alike, and a lot of people don't know what the ACL is or how to treat it until they tear it.

Studies have also shown that women in particular, unfortunately have a disadvantage in life when compared to male counterparts, and that is one pertaining to their higher risk for ACL injury. Due to a neuromuscular imbalance that is concomitant with overactive quadriceps strength compared to hamstring strength, females tend to place more stress on the ACL. Accordingly, this increases the pressure on the ACL leading to a higher prevalence of injury that will arise more on the female spectrum than that of the male (Myer et al., 2009). Furthermore, this is important to be aware of for female athletes and for the Physical Therapists who treat them in efforts to provide educational information regarding the relationship of stronger hamstrings correlating to a lesser chance of ACL injury. Personally, I have worked with athletic females in the past as a personal trainer and while I was not strengthening hamstrings with the direct objective to prevent an ACL injury, I was cognizant of the notion that a balanced quadriceps and hamstring ratio was necessary to avoid lower extremity injuries as a

Dr. Boden of the Orthopedic Center in Rockville states, “Young women are two to eight times more likely than their male counterparts to injure their ACL.” Although there are some factors that put others at a higher risk of tearing their ACL, like this gender one, ACL tears are common and can happen

Female athletes who participate in these high-risk sports demonstrate a 4 to 6 times greater rate of ACL injuries than males participating in the same sports (Hewett, 2000;

With an ever increasing number of people becoming involved with athletic activities, there is an increasing number of injuries occurring which can be devastating for the individual. Most of the injuries that affect athletes occur in one of four structures in the human body: bones, muscles, tendons, or ligaments. Because ligaments attach bone to bone and play a major part in providing stability for joints, the major stabilizing ligament in the knee, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), assists in performing everyday actions of the human body including sitting, standing, walking, running, dancing, and participating in other sports. The injury that specifically affects this ligament is very serious and always

Because of their genders, male and Female athletes have different injuries. Many injuries differ according to the athletes gender, furthermore there are numerous type of injuries in sports today. “Specific to body

In her article, “High School ACL Injury Rates”, Dawn Comstock shows that in 2009, about sixty percent, of all sports surgeries involve the knee; within the sixty percent, about fifty percent of the knee surgeries are ACL reconstructions. Sports that could have a higher tendency for an athlete to tear the ACL are sports that require an athlete to decelerate quickly or need to cut and change direction instantly. For example, an article shows that a high-impact sport has a higher percentage of ACL tears when compared to a low-impact sport, such as football and women’s soccer; football has a forty-one percent ACL injury rate while women’s soccer only has nineteen percent. Not only does the level of impact effect the likelihood of ACL injury, but the gender of the athlete as well. When looking at women’s and men’s soccer, men have a merely thirteen percent ACL injury rate because their physical structure along with their techniques when doing certain exercises.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is one of the most common knee injuries in female sports today. The ACL is a ligament that attaches the femur and tibia to the knee allowing the knee to bend while still being stable and supporting the whole body. Dr. Russel F. Warren, a physician for the New York Giants football team, explains, “The ACL prevents the shin bone (tibia) from moving too far forward on the thigh bone (femur) and keeps the knee from twisting inward excessively.” When athletes tear their ACL there is a greater chance that they have hurt or another ligament in their knee such as the LCL, MCL or Meniscus; which is cartilage that absorbs shock from the body’s pressure (MedlinePlus). The ACL is strong, but one wrong move could result

Female athletes can protect themselves through many stretches and prevention programs provided by their coaches, parents and Athletic Trainers. Many ACL tears can be protected by warm- up or cool-down programs or stretching (Ritter). The solution to preventing some of the ACL injuries is a strength and flexibility programs to strengthen the hamstrings, quadriceps and the core while stabilizing the knee (Busse). Working on the athlete’s techniques such as running, jumping and landing techniques can vastly improve their chances of ACL strength and would help prevent against tears (Malamut). Using an ACL prevention program teaches athletes how to align their hips for correct form and how to jump correctly without pain and without being knock-knee.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) -injury is arguably the most common serious knee injury related to sports participation. Approximately 5000 individuals suffer an ACL injury in Sweden every year (Lohmander 2007). Individuals with a history of injury to their anterior cruciate ligament or menisci were shown to develop knee OA 10 to 20 years post injury (Lohmander, 2007).

Female participation in competitive athletics has increased significantly in recent years. Compared to their male counterparts, they are at a 2 to 10 times greater risk for ACL injury (Edward et al, 2015, p. 368) There are two main mechanisms for an ACL injury: Contact, and non-contact. 70% of all reported ACL injuries are non-contact in nature, whereas the remaining 30% involve contact from an outside force such as an opposing player, a goalpost, or another object on the field or court (Silvers, 2009, p.83).

The most common ligamentous injury to the knee is injury to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) (Teske 2010), and it is the second most common injury in the lower extremity. It has become so common of an injury that 1 in 3000 individuals in the United States will be affected with an ACL tear (Micheo 2010) and there are 200,000 new cases per year (Wilk 2012). It is most commonly seen in people 15-30 years of age (Teske 2010). It is also more common in females than males (Fayad 2003, Teske 2010, Bowerman 2006). This is due to increased joint laxity in post-pubescent females compared to post-pubescent males (Bowerman 2006) and differences in muscle activation. Males tend to have a more balanced quadriceps to hamstrings ratio

Our study proposes to examine the effects of a training program on high school female soccer athletes in regards to their risk for an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear using surrogate markers. A randomized control trial will be employed on eligible female soccer athletes that are age fourteen to eighteen taken from two different schools. We will be using a convenience sample with one school being the control group and the other being the experimental group having a total of 56 participants after accounting for attrition. A seven question screener survey was created for this experiment to help screen out possible confounders. Data will be gathered by careful measuring of the exercises performed. More specifically, weight increase, range of motion increase, and repetitions performed. A proportion test will be used to analyze the data. The purpose of this study is to determine if, at the high school level, a specialized exercise program will help decrease the chance of ACL tears through strengthening the hamstrings.

One of the most common injuries related to the knee is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury. This is a tear or sprain that affects the knee joints and can be treated via surgery. Notably, athletes such as footballers and basketballers are more prone to these type of injuries than people who do not engage in sports activities. What is more, these types of injuries usually range from the simple and small sprains to the severe injuries where the ACL is torn completely. Although anterior cruciate ligament injuries are common, female are more vulnerable to the injuries than their male counterparts. Particularly, the incidence rate of females is about 9.7 times more probable to occur than the men participating in the same activities (Renstrom

This essay deals with the current treatments, rehabilitation procedures and onsets following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Within this essay, there will be information including the causes, characteristics, and symptoms of ACL injuries. Throughout the United States, there are estimated to be 200,000 ACL injuries per year with 100,000 of those injuries being treated through ACL reconstruction (Evans, Shaginaw, & Bartolozz, 2014). With a satisfactory ACL reconstruction outcome between 75%-97%. From the 10%-15% failure rate of ACL reconstruction, the primary fault is due to technical mistakes at 70% (Samitier, Marcano, Alentorn-Geli, Cugot, Former, & Moser,