Hey Campers!
“Female athletes at the high school and collegiate level in the United States suffer more than 30,000 serious knee injuries each year. In recreational sports, the number of injuries is even greater. Many of these injuries are anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. Why women are 2 to 8 times more likely than men to sustain ACL tears, especially in sports like soccer that involve deceleration, twisting, cutting, and jumping, continues to be a challenging question. Differences in the anatomy, knee alignment, hormonal profile, muscle strength, and conditioning of men and women are just some of the possible reasons for the different rates of injury” according to Stephanie L. Silberberg, MD.
“The most frequent and severe type of injury among (female) soccer players is to the legs, especially the knees. ACL injury incidence is highest among young athletes” as reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “Knee injuries, and especially ACL ruptures, may have long-term consequences, including a long absence from soccer, incomplete recovery and secondary osteoarthritis of the knee.”
In a nut shell, far too many female athletes are injured every year. The real tragedy is that most of these injuries can be avoided with proper training. Simply by incorporating the right program into weekly practices, the probability of ACL injury can be reduced by up to 85%. At CAMP we work to reduce injuries through proper warm-up, stretching, strengthening, plyometrics, and sport specific agilities to address potential deficits in the strength and coordination of the stabilizing muscles around the knee joint. Our girls High School Soccer Prep & Training program incorporates our injury prevention training for the sole purpose of keeping players in the game and out of rehab.
Bottom line – with the right training, injuries can be greatly reduced and athletes can stay on the field where they belong.
Paul Campbell Director CAMP, Building Better Athletes LLC