Decent article on ACL injuries

Stack

Leave Women's Football Alone!!!
Joined
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Auckland New Zealand
Demon Barber said:
For those who are interested it is well worth a read.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...the-crisis-of-acl-injuries-in-womens-football

I am curious though - are ACL injuries as prevalent in other leagues worldwide? Obviously in the UK any news focuses on WSL players, but I'd be interested in relevant data for, say, Scandinavia, the USA, Canada, Japan, Spain, France ... In fact, anywhere else really!
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It is a problem throught all leagues in Womens football around the world.
As a male player I ruptured my ACL back in the mid 80s. I have had 3 different surgeries over the years to fix it, the last operation did the trick. One thing I did learn was that my quad muscles needed to become stronger but also my hamstrings had to strengthen in balance as well. Back then I knew a few players in our main leagues here who had ruptured their ACL's but they were able to carry on by building up those muscles, not perfect but they could carry on.
I coached girls and womens football for years and saw my fair share of ACL injuries. I dont have any real evidence but a couple of unscientific observations. Womens quads arent as well developed as mens so when there is a suddend change of direction or collision while all weight is on the knee pivot their quads arent big or strong enough to stop all the weight and pressure going on to their ACLs. Also womens are hips different to mens so the biometrics are different which suspect contributes to the problems. Warmups are incredibly important but due to the nature of football with its infinite different types of collisions and changes of directions and playing conditions warm ups can only do so much. Womens field hockey also has ACL issues but they arent as frequent as in womens football, I think that may be partly due to football having more robust collisions than field hockey.
 

Demon Barber

Full Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2022
Messages
539
Stack said:
It is a problem throught all leagues in Womens football around the world.
As a male player I ruptured my ACL back in the mid 80s. I have had 3 different surgeries over the years to fix it, the last operation did the trick. One thing I did learn was that my quad muscles needed to become stronger but also my hamstrings had to strengthen in balance as well. Back then I knew a few players in our main leagues here who had ruptured their ACL's but they were able to carry on by building up those muscles, not perfect but they could carry on.
I coached girls and womens football for years and saw my fair share of ACL injuries. I dont have any real evidence but a couple of unscientific observations. Womens quads arent as well developed as mens so when there is a suddend change of direction or collision while all weight is on the knee pivot their quads arent big or strong enough to stop all the weight and pressure going on to their ACLs. Also womens are hips different to mens so the biometrics are different which suspect contributes to the problems. Warmups are incredibly important but due to the nature of football with its infinite different types of collisions and changes of directions and playing conditions warm ups can only do so much. Womens field hockey also has ACL issues but they arent as frequent as in womens football, I think that may be partly due to football having more robust collisions than field hockey.
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Interesting. Thank you for the response. I did consider the hockey comparison but as you say, less contact and different types of movement.
 
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