Women Prone to ACL Injury

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Created on Tuesday, 01 May 2012 12:55
Written by Super User

womens aclBARTON - Knee injuries in young athletes is a problem for many high school girls. 

Lake Region's Kylie Atwood was just one of 38,000 high school athletes to tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) last year.

Matt Breton, a Physical Therapist at Northern Physical Therapy describes the injury as "A serious injury its a primary stabilizer in the knee joint and when its not there we think it leads to arthritis later in life it exposes more structures in the knee like the meniscus and cartilage to more damage because there's more slipping around of the joints."

Kylie tore her ACL during a basketball game her junior year.  Kylie said, "The pain I was in, I don't think I could describe with one word nor a thousand words it was physically hurt so bad."  She fortunately returned from injury for her senior year.

Breton says there are a number of factors involved in why young female athletes are more likely to sustain a non-contact ACL injury than males.  He says, "Some people think there is a hormonal rule related to their menstrual cycle some people think there's an alignment issue they have wider hips and wider cue angle at their knee so they put more stress on it that may expose them to injury. And some athletes have narrower notches and different shaped ACLs that may predispose them to injury."))

The injury can also be emotionally painful for the athlete.  Breton said, "It's very tough on them and a big psychological blow and that sometimes is what we spend the first couple sessions working on is just the fact that it is torn they need to put the work in to get where they want to be."

Kylie's Varsity basketball coach Mark tinker felt time and physical therapy helped Kylie's progression.  Tinker said, "From where she started in the first open gyms and the first weeks at practice to where she was in our last playoff game she had come along way."  Kylie added, "It definitely was rewarding.  I think the biggest aspect is I accomplished something after tearing my ACL."  That accomplishment was scoring 1000 points in her high school basketball career.

Breton recommends that female athletes should become involved in strength and conditioning programs to help with flexibility.