Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Introduction

Female athletes have a four- to sevenfold increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury compared with their male counterparts playing at similar levels in the same sports. The elevated risk of ACL injury in females connected with the geometric increase in female sports participation in the last 30 years has directed to a rapid rise in these injuries. This large increase in ACL injury incidence has fueled studies into both mechanisms of injury and interventions to avert injury.(Climstein, 2008) A reconsider of published multidisciplinary approaches demonstrates that several training protocols have utilized multiple components targeted toward injury avoidance training and were able to decrease injury incidence in female athletes.(Glasgow , 2003,p.208) Similar training techniques may also be used to gain improvements in measures of performance. The purpose of this reconsider is to focus training components that may decrease ACL injury risk and assess their potential for blended use in performance-oriented protocols.

 

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in the female athlete

Female athletes have a four- to sevenfold increased risk of ACL injury compared with their male counterparts playing at similar levels in the same sports. The elevated risk of ACL injury in females connected with the 900% increase in high school and 500% increase in collegiate sport participation in the last 30 years has directed to a rapid rise in these injuries.(Climstein, 2008, p.36) This large increase in ACL injury incidence has fueled studies into both mechanisms and interventions to these debilitating sports injuries. This paradigm shift of focus away from treatment and rehabilitation, toward injury mechanism and avoidance is warranted, as reports from Scandinavia and the United States show that ligament injuries, specifically injury to the ACL are costly, with conservative estimates of surgical and rehabilitative costs of $17 000 in US dollars per injury.(Glasgow , 2003,p.208) This is in addition to the potential loss of whole seasons of sports participation, scholarship funding, let down academic performance, long-run disability and up to 105 times greater risk of radio graphically diagnosed osteoarthritis to arrive in the future. It would appear that the use of ACL injury avoidance techniques would supply a sound time and financial investment for the coach, athlete, and sports surgery staff as the long-run costs of ACL injury may be significantly greater than the short-term costs.(Ford, 2006, p.1601)

The latest approaches to the design of neuromuscular training to avert smaller extremity injury have been diverse, utilizing many distinct types of training components. Review of the multidisciplinary approaches described in the literature demonstrates that several training protocols have incorporated one or more components targeted toward injury-prevention training and were able to decrease injury incidence.(Johnson , 2003, p.65)

 

ACL injury-prevention studies

Young et al. (2006) initiated a program design that focused on correction of dynamic action patterns and muscle imbalances that utilized method training and smaller body plyometrics with supplemental strength training. These authors showed that female athletes who participated in a neuromuscular training program demonstrated greater dynamic knee command than females who had not undergone ...