Why So Many Girls Tear Knee Ligaments
By Dr. Gene R. Barrett
Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center
www.msmoc.com
Girls are more likely to tear knee ligaments than boys.
This painful truth emerged after 1972 when the government’s Title IX
gave girls equal college sports opportunities to boys.
Girls began playing more college sports, and so more younger girls also
started playing sports.
Girls today play more basketball, soccer and softball than ever. They
also tear more knee ligaments than ever.
The tears show up most in soccer and basketball, since the girls make
more sharp cuts and moves.
Girls playing soccer or basketball are two to six times more likely than
their male counterparts to tear their Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL).
Seventy percent of these injuries are non-contact, often incurred when
an athlete is decelerating.
The majority of these injuries require surgery to return to the sport.
The risk of tearing the other knee is high in the under-18 population.
When the injury happens, the athlete often feels a pop and her knee
shift; this is followed by immediate swelling.
Can a female athlete prevent such injuries?
She cannot change her ligament size, leg alignment or monthly hormonal
shifts, all factors in such injuries. But she can improve leg strength,
core body strength, balance, shoe type and skill level.
The exercises below help build core spine and hip strength and hamstring
strength, as well as increase the athlete’s balance.
• Core body training;
• Sit-ups hip flexor / extensor, lower back muscles;
• Hamstring strengthening;
• Bicycle, hamstring curls, running stairs;
• Plyometrics and balance.
Practice jumping off of a box, landing on flexed knee, both one- and two-legged. Upon landing, explode back up.
Dr. Gene R. Barrett is director of the lower extremity and knee
surgery with Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center,
in Jackson, Mississippi. SS