Early in my sports medicine career, I attended a high school girls basketball game that left a lasting impression. As I watched, I realized I had performed a knee surgery called an Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction (ACL reconstruction) on eight of the ten starting players. The vivid image of eight braces on 20 knees battling it out on the court is seared into my memory.
That night, I found myself wondering: Are female knee ligament injuries...
Just bad luck? A bizarre coincidence? Something in the water in that region? Or could it be a sign of a larger problem? Over the last 30 years, I’ve dedicated my career to understanding why female athletes (especially high school and college) are at such a high risk for ACL injuries. Statistically, females have a greater incidence than males to experience this devastating ligament injury. As a background, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a major knee stabilizer.
It keeps the knee steady during high-demand movements like cutting, jumping, pivoting, or planting. Yet, despite advances in surgery and rehabilitation, ACL injuries often leave a long-lasting impact on athletes. About 10 years ago, I led a team that conducted a study on high school and college athletes to better understand the risk factors.
Here’s what we found: • Female athletes: The predictors of ACL injury included having a parent with an ACL injury, increased knee laxity (front-and-back movement of the knee), and a higher body mass index (BMI). • Male .
