Toll Free 1-877-626-4500
Quick Links Home
The Need For Speed
It is critically important to apply ice and compression immediately after an injury. Studies show that recovery from an injury is directly related to how soon ice and compression are applied. More Ice Therapy facts »
ACL Injuries & Women Athletes
Category: Knee Injuries
Jul 18, 2006
One in every 3,000 American adults tears their ACL each year. But since Title IX, the number of women active in jumping and cutting sports has increased tenfold, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations – and female athletes are getting more than their share of the injuries.
Depending on the sport, women are four to six times more likely to tear their ACL as their male athlete counterparts. In military obstacle courses, the likelihood jumps to 10 female ligament tears to every similar injury for a man.
Of course, I didn’t know any of that when it happened to me. At the time, I wondered if a knee could actually disintegrate on the spot. I wondered what I had done to myself and why I couldn’t put any weight on my leg without it buckling.
I heard that sound every night for weeks when I was trying to sleep, even after I learned what had happened to me wasn’t quite as awful as I had feared when I was rolling around on the sidewalk with my knee between my hands.
Anyone familiar with sports has probably heard of an ACL tear. Commentators usually use the phrase “season-ending injury” when it happens.
It happens to both weekend warriors and athletes who surf, ski or play baseball, basketball, soccer, football or European handball professionally.
The ACL crosses in front of the posterior cruciate ligament behind the kneecap. It’s a length of fibers, all going the same direction, that curl up and fray when torn. Unlike damaged muscle fibers, they won’t repair or reknit on their own.
Surgery is an option, but not a necessity. I opted for orthopedic repair – thanks to Dr. Dale Boyd and his staff – which then started a round of doctor’s appointments and physical therapy sessions that would dominate my life for the next few months.
The knee’s response after a tear of the ACL is to swell. There’s an inhibition of the quadriceps and other muscles surrounding the knee that is most likely a protective instinct for the body. Without treatment, the muscle atrophy that comes a few days after the tear leads to a bent-knee walk.
Ice packs, doing simple exercises to keep the muscled contracting, and even stimulating the quadriceps with electrodes are among the first priorities of physical therapy.