About 250,000 people tear their ACLs each year. Women are 8 times more likely to experience a tear.
Athletes…
…”Happy Prospectors…”
…Innocent Bystanders and girls named “Katie.”
Although I have to be the “tough girl” I publicly publish that I didn’t cry when I tore my ACL, I know that every injury is different. In all my years of playing sports, soccer, Ultimate and volleyball especially, I have seen many people fall to the ground screaming out in excruciating pain.
I hate saying this now, but I always thought that people who torn their ACLs were kinda weak. Not the case at all! I can tell you that it’s not the level of activity you are competing at that determines a tear, it’s the small details (second-nature motions) that can go slightly wrong–a bad hop, an awkward fall or a quick twist in the wrong direction.
Be careful out there!
A great list of knee excercises & stretches that will help prevent tears.
The University of Rochester Medical Center offers an ACL Injury Prevention Program which features these sample excercises:
- Warm-ups: Jog, slides, backpedals
- Strengthening: Lunge walk, ball bridge, calf raise
- Plyometrics: Lateral, front/back & single leg hops, rebound jumps, scissor jumps
- Agility:Shuttle and pivot runs
- Stretching Hamstrings, quads, calves, groin and hip flexors
Women are 8 times more likely to experience a tear because they cry 8 times more than men. Du-uh.
Although men do have smaller tear ducts than women, many scientific studies point out that women are more likely to tear an ACL because of ligament/quadriceps dominance, anatomy, asymmetry and even their menstrual cycles. If you can find an article that states crying as a determining factor of a tear, please share!
Note: all this info is taken from the article I cited at the top of this post.
Do you ever get the feeling we talk past each other? Maybe we should start seeing other people.
Hey mate, greetings from the UK !