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| Sport for sport women are at far greater risk for tearing their ACL |
One hears surprisingly little about this on a daily basis, even though there have been numerous scientific articles and presentations about this subject. The issue of women’s increased risk for major ligament injuries has even been a featured article in Sports Illustrated. Women have been found to be at particular risk in basketball and soccer. Other sports have been less thoroughly evaluated. Depending on the study and the setting in which women were being followed, women have been found to be anywhere from 3 to 10 times more at risk for a tear of the ACL.
Theories for the discrepancy between men and women have most recently centered on joint laxity, hormonal variations with the menstrual cycle, reaction times (how quickly muscles react to an event), and body position. Strength per se does not seem to be an issue. The sooner an answer is found, the sooner steps can be taken to bridge the gap. It is not clear to me to what extent women and girls who participate in these sports are aware of this phenomenon, i.e. to what extent they and their parents are informed consumers. This a particular concern in younger women since they are the ones most likely to need surgery. It may be politically incorrect to even bring up the subject.
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