The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Because of the way they're built, girls are up to eight times more likely than boys to suffer an ACL injury to the knee. The SportsMetrics program at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is working to lower those odds, and recently got some funding to do so.
This week Kohl's department stores donated $313,000 to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children's Pediatric Sports Medicine Center. Some of that will go toward preventing anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
As girls hit puberty, their hips widen. The new, angled relationship of hip to knee can make the knee joint less stable. Female hormones also cause ligaments to loosen, making girls more prone to ligament tears, said Dr. Jay Albright, director of pediatric sports medicine at the hospital. Click to continue.
The six-week SportsMetrics training teaches girls jumping strategies that could help them jump higher, land more safely, achieve more balance during play and protect their ACLs. In other sports centers that have used the program, the rate of female ACL injuries drops to just twice as often as boys'. Boys benefit from the training, too, said Albright.
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