Warrior Girls - Female athletes and the Knee Injury

[dlgood]

For stars91, thenxie and anyone else who has a teenage daughter involved in athletics...

ACL tears are on the rise among competitive female athletes, and have become a serious concern. If you aren't familiar, the Anterior Cruciate Ligament provides support to the knee. A torn ACL is a serious injury that will disable an athlete for 10-18 months and pose long-term risks of re-injury and/or arthritis.

For more info on injury and prevention, see this article and author discussion from the washington post.

Comments

[stars91.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!! I've printed both articles and will give a copy of the main article to both of the teenager's coaches. I think it's something they should consider!!

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I don't know the specifics of your situation. It didn't seem to me like your kid was playing at the sort of crazy level some of the athletes in the piece were described at. And you hadn't talked about any of the girls in your area getting injured.

But as someone who, in general, touts the value of getting girls to play sports - I felt I had to point this out. You guys may not have to be alarmed, but there's probably something to be learned by chasing down the studies and looking at whatever exercises might be good for overall health.

[stars91.livejournal.com]

I'm not completely sure but I'm thinking they may do some of these exercises in their warm ups before practice, at least during basketball. I know they have a 'trainer' from the local sports rehab facility that is at their school on a regular basis working with the kids so I can only imagine they have at some point suggested incorporation of just this kind of thing.

Although we don't play at the insane levels as the girls mentioned in this article, our team does have a crazy schedule even during the summer. They actually have back to back games tonight. I do know that they are starting to incorporate the "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" weight lifting regimen into their weekly schedule this summer to help build strength, which in turn will help prevent some injuries.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

That's good, that they've got trainers on-hand. I'm sure they know way more about this stuff than we do.

The articles also talked about over specialization, so it's probably a good idea to remind the kids to do different types of activities - tennis, swimming, cycling that can improve overall fitness too.

[stars91.livejournal.com]

You may find it funny that the teenager likes 'Dave' the trainer! There's another guy that comes too but she thinks he's creepy! *G*

Well, over the years she's played soccer, softball, basketball, volleyball and track. She's dropped soccer (coincides with volleyball) and softball (coincides with track) but did the other three during her first year in high school and unless something comes up she's planning to continue with each. They pretty much run one right into the next and then over the summer both Volleyball and Basketball have conditioning and league games so she's constantly doing something.

There haven't been any serious injuries with the girls that she's played with so far but I can remember one girl several years back that did tear her ACL during basketball.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

You may find it funny that the teenager likes 'Dave' the trainer! There's another guy that comes too but she thinks he's creepy! *G*

This does not surprise me. Isn't 'personal trainer' one of the top five gigolo jobs - right up their with Tennis Instructor and Pool Boy?

[stephanierb.livejournal.com]

Great post, Dave. I tore the ACL in my right knee playing basketball in high school, and re-injured it not a year later while playing soccer. It's also caused me problems since I developed arthritis (autoimmune, not osteo) in my twenties. Speaking from experience, anything that informs and helps prevent this type of injury is a very good thing.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

YW. When I was that age, I don't remember ACL injuries at all. I don't remember any guys or girls having them. But then, my sister and her teammates played pretty much every sport until HS (when soccer and softball were both in the spring) so they may have been better trained. Although, one of my older sisters friends from work had an ACL tear herself in HS.

So yeah... ACL is a pretty devastating injury - and my sis and I read this stuff and counted ourselves lucky.

Also, am reminded I should swim more - as it's probably the best full body workout you can get with the smallest risk of injury - especially if you don't want to put weight on your feet.