Athletic Injuries In Women's Sports

A while ago I was reading a book called "Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Sports" which talked about injuries that happen in women's sports and how it's becoming a growing epidemic. It was very interesting because the book focused specifically on anterior cruiciate ligament (ACL) injuries---how it happens, why women are more susceptible to it, and what can be done to prevent it. It was intriguing to find that so many young girls suffer ACL injuries especially in soccer and some tear their ACL more than once, which evidently cuts their athletic career short.
"Warrior Girls" opened with the story of Amy Steadman, a standout soccer player who was destined to become one of the greatest of her generation. However, her career was cut short due to a series of injuries she received (three of them being ACL tears). The book went on to talk about ACL injuries and how they maybe prevented as mentioned before. Apparently, women are about 4 times more likely to sustain an ACL injury than men and the reasons for this varied. One of the reasons that I found interesting was that women have a weaker neuromuscular structure than males and that because of their body size and shape, their knees are weaker and more prone to injuries than males. Another reason was mechanistic style of play. Most ACL injuries in females occur via non-contact, i.e., the way they land from a jump (either with straight knees or with the knee hyperextended), planting the foot and cutting, or pivoting with sudden deceleration. A third reason that also caught my eye was overuse, overexposure and burnout.
It was also interesting to read about the impact that the parents of these athletes had towards ACL injuries.
There are some crazy parents out there that push their child in to being the best in their sport, other times its the athlete themselves that puts the pressure on themselves to be the best out there. Some parents don't realize the consequences of their child being injured and that injury can be prevented until their child actually sustains an injury. There are both short term and long term consequences that come with injuries like an ACL tear. Short term consequence can inclued the loss of an entire season and less chance of being recruited by a college scout and receiving an athletic scholarship. Long term consequences include long term disability, increased risk of osteoarthritis for women and an increased possibility of knee replacement surgery. The book talked about prevention programs for ACL injuries in female athletes, which has reduced the risk of ACL injuries in young female athletes significantly. This book was an opener for me because at first, I didn't think injuries were much of an issue for female athletes and now that I am aware of it, I can use this information in the future when I have my own daughter and she expresses and interest in sports.

Sharleen Canullas kin338I S1