Boarding Schools for Girls

Injuries to knee ligaments -- primarily involving tears of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) -- are becoming increasingly common among female athletes, and are affecting girls as young as middle-school age.
In a June 7 article on the website of the Evansville Courier and Press, staff writer Randy Beard described both the prevalence and the potential causes of this unfortunate epidemic:

Dr. Andrew Saltzman, an Evansville orthopedic surgeon ... said noncontact ACL tears are three times more common among women than men  and perhaps four times more frequent in basketball. Other studies have estimated that women athletes could be as much as eight times more likely to tear an ACL.

There are numerous physiological reasons why female athletes are believed to be more at risk for ACL tears. It starts with having a wider pelvis and being more knock-kneed than typically more bowlegged men. Muscle structure is another factor. Women tend to have weaker hamstrings, making their quadriceps the more dominant muscle in stabilizing the knee.

Then there are the changes that take place during puberty. Increased estrogen in girls tends to result in more flexible ligaments, but they are protected by less muscle than testosterone-fueled boys.

Team sports and other organized athletic pursuits have been credited with boosting self-esteem, increasing self-confidence, and decreasing overweight and obesity risks of girls and young women, but Beard's article reinforces the necessity of taking necessary precautions to ensure that the young athletes have a safe sporting experience.

Labels: girls, athletes, injuries

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In the 30-plus years since Title IX opened up a world of opportunities for female athletes in the United States, girls have made significant strides in all fields of competition.

But one area in which women are outpacing their male counterparts is nothing to celebrate: According to a CNN report, girls are up to eight times more likely than boys to suffer serious injuries to their anterior cruciate ligaments, or ACLs.

"I reconstructed ACLs for just four male high school soccer players [in 2006], compared to 25 girls," orthopedic surgeon John Xerogeanes told CNN reporter Judy Fortin.

One of the knee's four major ligaments, the ACL helps stabilize the knee and minimize the amount of stress that is placed on the joint. Because of the strain that many sports place on the knee, ACL injuries are relatively common among athletes.

According to the Sports Injury Clinic website, the following symptoms may indicate that an athlete has torn her ACL:

• An audible pop or crack when the injury takes place
• Extreme pain, followed immediately by a feeling of instability in the knee
• Extensive swelling soon after the injury occurs
• Restricted ability to move the knee or straighten the leg
• Tenderness alongside the knee joint

Though specialists have documented the disproportionate risk faced by female athletes, they have not determined exactly why girls are more prone to ACL tears.

"We know that there is a huge increase in ACL injuries when you compare female athletes to male athletes," Xerogeanes said during the CNN interview. "We've looked at a million different things in terms of size of the pelvis, angulation of the knees, hormones and the way girls fire their muscles when they land. We're not exactly sure why this happens."

Labels: athletes, injuries

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