This is applicable to all, but in particular those who have maturing daughters who play soccer (since that is the highest affected category). My daughter tore her ACL before the beginning of her senior year - sidelining her for an entire season. Of course we wanted to know what if anything we could do to prevent a repeat. The report WAS NOT encouraging. (hopefully that wasn't a doctor securing his future!!) Having played now through the college level she has dozens of friends who met similar fate, quite a few of them repeating the injury on the good knee. Our doctor, who repairs hundreds of ACL tears annually, indicated there wasn't proof that anything helped.
At the time, I was told the following:
- ACL tears are more common in women then in men
- ACL tears increase dramatically once a girl has reached puberty
- Might have something to do with wider hips than males and the balance over knees is not the same
- Might be hormonally based, and found that putting girls on birth control during cycle might help, but that in itself added different risks so wasn't recommended.
- Structure inside of knee is more narrow than males causing the ligiment to catch more easily on surrounding bone structure.
I have attached an article in the May 2013 Costco Connection (of all places) that talks about strength training you can do to prevent ACL damage. Reports are very encouraging. I was THRILLED to see some options for prevention. If I had a daughter playing any sports in junior high or high school I would most definitely encourage coaches to add the type of strengthening mentioned in this article. Hopefully, you will never know if it worked!
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