Torn ACL Takes Gymnast Out of the Olympics

Examiner.com reports: 

A torn left ACL sustained during a competition in France over the weekend has ended Julie Croket's chances for the London Olympic Games.

Croket, the Belgian star with the elfin face, has been arguably the best in her country since becoming a senior in 2010. Her engaging and difficult floor routine, which delighted the home crowd in event finals at this year's European Championships, made her a darkhorse favorite for an event final in London.

source

According to the broadcaster Rtbf.be, the Belgian Federation hopes to replace Croket, who turns 18 on July 1, with 2008 Olympian Gaelle Mys, the second strongest gymnast on the team at the European Championships. Mys will have to receive approval from the Belgian Olympic Committee before she'll be cleared to represent her country at the Olympics.

After Euros, when it appeared Croket had the country's single Olympic berth wrapped up, Mys wished Croket the very best in her preparations, saying she didn't consider Croket a rival.

Click here to continue reading.

ACL Injury Prevention Program

Ridgefield's HamletHub reports:

Sportsmetrics, an ACL injury prevention program designed specifically for high school age female athletes, will be returning to Ridgefield High School for its 4^th season.  The program, which runs from June 26^th to August 23^rd, teaches jumping and landing technique, strengthening and balance to help females combat their significantly higher risk of knee injuries.

source

1 in 100 US female high school athletes will suffer a serious knee injury. In sports involving cutting, jumping, landing and pivoting the risk of tearing the Anterior Cruciate Ligament becomes 2 to 10 times higher in female athletes than in male athletes.  “It’s the way females land from a jump, or the way they cut when running” say Kate Campbell, a physical therapist and Director of the Sportsmetrics program. “Females don’t have the strength to get into the right position like males do.  We teach young women how to jump and land properly, and that’s what makes the difference."

Past Sportsmetrics programs conducted at RHS have provided positive results for participants.  Almost 100 girls have attended the program and not one has suffered a non-contact ACL tear from sports.  In addition, biomechanical testing performed before and after the program has shown a 38% reduction in the number of athletes considered at “high risk” for major knee injury (as determined by knee position on landing).

Click here to continue reading.

ACL Injuries in Young Athletes

WFAA.com reports:

I have many young patients that are regular soccer players and many of them are adolescent girls. A recent article in the British Medical Journalcaught my eye. The title “Simple Warm-Up Program Prevents Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries”. 

In my early days of training, I was taught that children rarely had ligamentous injuries especially involving their knees. Boy has that information changed over the years! I can’t even count the number of teenage patients of mine who have had serious knee injuries, many requiring surgeries and some injuries ending their athletic careers.  

We now know that adolescent female soccer players experience anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injuries at a rate that is twice that of their male counterparts.  This study looked at whether these serious injuries can be prevented. 

4,600 females between the ages of 12 - 17 years participated in the study. Two-thirds were instructed in how to perform a 15 minute warm up program focusing on new control and core stability. This consisted of 5 minutes of jogging followed by six exercises (one-legged knee squat, two-legged knee squat, lunge, bench press, jump/landing technique, and pelvic lift).  The program was completed twice weekly during soccer season and progressed through 4 levels of difficulty. 

The outcome? Seven players in the intervention group, and 14 in the control group experienced ACL injuries. The rate of ACL injury was 64% lower in the intervention group. Pretty impressive! 

Click here to continue reading.

Shannon Orton keeps on pitching

The Herald News reports:

Her anterior cruciate ligament was torn, but Shannon Orton wasn't.

Faced with the choice of having surgery immediately and missing her senior softball season or postponing the operation and spending most of her summer laid up in recovery, the decision was a no-brainer for the Case High School pitcher.

source

"I didn't want to miss my senior year of softball," said Orton, who tore the ACL in her right knee during a basketball game at Bishop Stang on Dec. 27. "After the MRI, I was told I could have surgery now and have a 4-6 month recovery period, which would put me in July, or I could get a brace and hold the knee together and postpone the surgery until after the softball season."

Orton's decision was easy. Her surgery is set for July 5.

"My doctor understood my situation," Orton said. "He told me I couldn't damage it any more."

"I haven't seen anyone as driven as Shannon," said Case coach Norm Beauchemin. "She has so much passion for the game. She did a lot of rehab with (Case trainer) Russ Boardman and he said she was determined to pitch. She has had a great year for us."

Click here to continue reading.

ACL injuries more common in women

http://www.wlfi.com reports:


"We were in a scrimmage against ISU and I went to make a move to the basket, and my body went one way and my knee went the other. It just snapped," said Purdue Women's Basketball player Drey Mingo. "I knew immediately. I was just kind of like 'Oh my gosh, is this happening?'" 

An ACL tear is one of the most dangerous injuries in sports and among the most common. 200,000 ACL tears occur each year in the United States, and the most likely candidates are women. 

"Females, depending what sport they play, are about two to ten times more likely to tear their ACL than males," said Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Robert Hagen. 

Dr. Hagen said it's usually the collegiate and professional athletes you hear about tearing their ACL's, but he said that's because of their high profile status. He said the ones in real danger are actually adolescent girls around the age of 13. 

"There's some anatomical reasons," said Dr. Hagen. "The area where the ligament attaches is a little smaller in a female. They land differently, if you watch junior high girls playing and boys playing, girls tend to land with their hips straight and their knees straight, where guys land with their knees flexed and their hips flexed." 


Click here to read more.

Bay Area top girls basketball player on the mend

Bay News 9 reports: 

One of the Bay Area's top girls basketball players is on the mend following surgery to repair a torn ACL.

Riverview junior guard Tesha Hanson had surgery nearly two weeks ago, her father Reggie Hanson said, and has already begun physical therapy.

Reggie Hanson, USF's Men's Director of Basketball Operations, said his daughter will be ready for the high school season.

Last season, Hanson was the Sharks second-leading scorer with a 19.0 points per game average. She was also second on the team with 3.9 steals per game.

Hanson, and Riverview's leading scorer Faith Woodard, form one of the best combos in Hillsborough County. Riverview (21-5) closed out the season with two-straight losses - to Tampa Bay Tech in the district championship game and to Haines City in the first round of the playoffs.

Click here to continue reading.

Penny Taylor underwent successful surgery

WNBA.com reports:

Source

Phoenix Mercury forward Penny Taylor underwent successful surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, the club announced today. The surgery was conducted in Melbourne, Australia by world-renowned knee surgeon Julian Feller. Taylor is expected to make a full recovery by the end of 2012.

Taylor sustained the injury March 29 while playing for Fenerbahce (Turkey) in the Euroleague Final 8 and will miss the entire WNBA season as well as the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The three-time WNBA All-Star will rejoin the Mercury for the 2012 season to continue the rehabilitation process. She is expected to return to Phoenix prior to the May 20 season opener in Minnesota and is cleared to participate in all team-related activities. While unable to play, Taylor will be listed as an active player on the team’s 11-player roster.

Click here to continue reading.

Why are women more susceptible to knee injuries?

Wired reports: 

Women are more susceptible to knee injuries than men, a fact long attributed to differences in muscular and skeletal structure. A new study suggests gender differences in the nervous system also may play a role.

Research at Oregon State University suggests men and women differ in how they transmit the nerve impulses that control muscle force. The finding may help explain why women are far more likely than men to blow out their knees, specifically the anterior cruciate ligaments, during non-contact activity. Answering that question could lead to training regimens that reduce the risk of injury. Although ACL tears often are repaired, there is a 15 percent chance of re-tearing, and even repaired injuries can lead to osteoarthritis.

source

“Some people say women are twice as likely to injure their ACL than men,” said Sam Johnson, one of the authors of the study and a clinical associate professor in the School of Biological and Population Health Sciences. “Some say eight times, but it’s probably somewhere in between.”

Researchers have been trying for 20 years to figure out why women are so prone to knee injuries. They’ve long known skeletal and muscle differences are a factor, but not so great as to explain the divergence in injury rates between the sexes.

Click here to continue reading.

Lindsay Suyes is back after ACL Surgery

newsleader.com reports:


When Lindsay Suyes was helped off the field last April during a soccer game, the then Wilson Memorial junior recalled thinking one thing.


"This really hurts."


The Green Hornets were hosting Robert E. Lee and Suyes remembered waiting for teammate Sarah Thibodeau to cross the ball.


When Thibodeau hit the line, Suyes, standing all alone, turned. Nothing drastic. No contact by another player. She simply turned. As she described it, half of her knee stayed still and the other half moved.


Click here to continue reading.

Understanding of ACL injuries is still evolving

The Baltimore Sun reports: 

Concussions may have recently taken the spotlight in lacrosse sports medicine, but anterior cruciate ligament injuries are still a major unanswered issue for the sport. ACL tears are the leading cause of missed game and practice time at both the high school and college levels of play for both males and females.

Concussions may have recently taken the spotlight in lacrosse sports medicine, but anterior cruciate ligament injuries are still a major unanswered issue.

ACL tears are the leading cause of missed game and practice time at both the high school and college levels of play for both males and females. Data from the US Lacrosse membership insurance program shows that knee-related claims —primarily ACL injuries — are greater than all other injury payouts combined. In general, ACL injury rates are on the rise but are particularly high in teenage boys and girls, females of all ages and players with a previous history of ACL tear.

The risk factors for initial injury and failure of return to play are multifaceted and include core athletic abilities, lower-extremity biomechanics, fear of reinjury and access to comprehensive medical care. Although most ACL injures are noncontact in nature, video analysis reveals that these injuries are often related to adjustments such as a quick dodge or awkward landing that players must make in response to unanticipated activities around them.

Click here to continue reading.

ACL injuries more prevalent in women

The New Haven Register reports:


The first time, Carley Mulligan was in eighth grade.

She went up for a layup and got bumped from behind by a defender. She came down on her right leg, her knee turned in and twisted. Mulligan had torn her anterior cruciate ligament, one of four major ligaments in the knee.

Then, about a year later, Mulligan was on the floor for a game during her freshman season at Choate. She was up the court, dribbling. No other player was around. Mulligan planted her left foot, went to turn the other way and tore her left ACL.

“I was injury-free until that happened,” said Mulligan, now a junior at Choate. “Sports were a huge part of my life. I was devastated.”


Mulligan is one of countless female athletes that have fallen victim to the ACL epidemic.

Michael Medvecky, associate professor in the department of orthopaedics and rehabilitation at the Yale School of Medicine, along with Paul Bauer, an orthopedic physical therapist and practice director of Physical Therapy Specialists, recently put on a free presentation at Adams Middle School in Guilford. They showed why ACL injuries are more common in females and how to help prevent them. Mulligan was on hand to share her story of twice suffering a torn ACL.


Click here to continue reading.

Sara Toti undergoes ACL surgery

Govolsxtra.com reports:

Tennessee women's tennis player Sarah Toti underwent successful surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, according to a UT release on Friday.

The freshman suffered the injury during doubles play in a home match against Arkansas on March 25.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Greg Mathien and Dr. Russell Betcher of the Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic at UT Medical Center. Toti is expected to return in time for the start of the 2013 season.

Ranked as the 13th-best prospect nationally, Toti earned a conference-high three SEC Freshman of the Week honors.

Toti's 26 doubles wins are tied for the seventh on the all-time career list for UT freshmen. It included a 15-match winning streak with Brynn Boren from Nov. 11-Feb. 25.

She finished the season with a 15-11 record in singles and 26-7 in doubles.

Female skiers likelier to injure non-dominant knee

Reuters reports: 

Women skiers are more likely than men to injure a knee while skiing, and a new study shows they are about twice as likely to have that injury occur to their non-dominant leg, often the left one.

The study did not go so far as to explain these inequalities, but Dr. Robert Johnson, a sports medicine physician at the University of Vermont College of Medicine said it could be caused "by a whole herd of issues."

"Anatomy, strength patterns, muscle patterns, wider pelvis...it all adds up. It's not just one factor," said Johnson, who was not involved in the research.

Earlier studies have shown that women are twice as likely as men to hurt a knee during downhill ski crashes, and three times as likely to tear the knee's anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL.

Gerhard Ruedl, lead author of the new study and a researcher at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, said he was interested in looking at whether women's knee troubles had to do with leg dominance.

The dominant leg is the one that a person prefers to kick with.

Click here to continue reading. 

Kathryn Reynolds suffers torn ACL

HawkeyeSports.com reports:

University of Iowa freshman Kathryn Reynolds suffered a torn ACL in her left knee during offseason workouts Wednesday afternoon.

source

This is the second injury to Reynolds' left ACL. She tore the same ligament six games into her junior season in high school.

"It's always tough to see one of your players tear an ACL for the second time," head coach Lisa Bluder said. "We were really looking forward to seeing Kathryn's improvements throughout offseason workouts. She has great skills and our depth at point guard is very thin right now. Kathryn is a tough competitor and we expect her to make a full recovery."

Reynolds played in 21 games as a freshman and averaged 6.1 minutes per contest. She netted 13 points and dished out 15 assists on the season. She scored a season high four points vs. Drake and tallied a season best five assists against Western Illinois.

Reynolds will have surgery within the next two weeks. The date is still to be determined.

Katherine Simon on top after knee injury

The New Haven Register reports: 


Perhaps only someone with the disarmingly friendly, infectious personality of Katherine Simon could consider tearing up their knee a blessing in disguise.

But that’s exactly how the Amity junior shot put star views the injury she suffered a little over two years ago, and she’s got a good point.

source

Had she not torn her meniscus, ACL and MCL while playing indoor soccer in March, 2010, Simon, who was a strong sprinter as a freshman, may not have shifted her full focus to the shot put and emerged as one of the best in not only Connecticut, but all of New England.

“Initially, I thought it was a huge setback for track,” she said. “But it turned out well and allowed me to focus more on shot put, which I realized was my best event.”


Click here to continue reading.