Information about a piece of news titled Why do female football players injure their anterior cruciate ligament
Why do female football players injure their anterior cruciate ligament
Intoduction
To answer this question, a new project has recently been established at the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center. The project includes 200 elite female football players and the objective is to investigate risk factors for anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are a common problem in sports such as football and team handball. The incidence of non-contact ACL injuries is particularly high among female team sport athletes, who seem to have a 3-7 times greater risk of sustaining this injury compared to their male counterparts.
So far, we know too little about the complexity of risk factors and injury mechanisms for ACL-injuries. The objective of this study is therefore to increase our knowledge about risk factors for ACL-injuries sustained by female team handball and football players.
In the 4 year prospective cohort study, we will investigate if various biomechanical, neuromuscular and anatomical factors can predict the risk of sustaining a future ACL-rupture. By using a cross-sectional design, we also will explore risk factors by comparing ACL-injured and non-injured players at baseline.
After having tested approximately 250 female team handball players during the last 2 seasons, all 12 female football teams from the Norwegian elite level were invited to participate in the study.
In February and March, a total of 200 players were tested at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences.
The test stations included 3D motion analysis to capture hip, knee and ankle joint kinetics and kinematics in drop-jump and cutting movements, measures of muscle strength and power, balance and neuromuscular control, flexibility, joint laxity, and anatomical measurements.
ACL injuries will then be recorded for all team activities throughout the 2012 season. In addition, we will record all injuries sustained by the football players from the 12 elite teams throughout the 2009 season. This will help us to describe the injury patterns among elite female football players.
All football players are planned to be re-tested in 2011 (all team handball players in 2009).
The results from this prospective cohort study will enable us to detect potential risk factors for females who sustain an ACL-injury. With better knowledge on injury risk factors, we can develop and optimize current training programs and target these to the population at risk.
PhD-student and PT Agnethe Nilstad is the leader of the project in cooperation with research fellow and MD Thor Einar Andersen. Other members of the project group are professor Roald Bahr MD PhD, Tron Krosshaug PhD, Grethe Myklebust PT PhD, Kathrin Steffen PhD, and medical student Eirik Kristianslund (who leads the team handball part of this project). The test group participating in the screening of the players also consisted of researchers from Japan, Germany and Sweden, and scientific assistants from the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center.
At Agnethe Nilstads project site, you can find additional information about the ACL football project.
The Norwegian Football Association (NFF) has also published a news letter about the project (only in Norwegian).