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New warm-up program can help prevent ACL injuries in female athletes
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The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is urging female athletes — particularly soccer players — to consider a new warm-up program to help lower their risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries.
The APTA announced the new warm-up regimen as the association celebrates National Physical Therapy Month in October.
Concurring with a new study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, the APTA says a program of specialized stretching, strengthening, agility and jumping exercises could lower the overall ACL injury rate among female athletes, according to an APTA press release.
The study evaluated outcomes of NCAA Division 1 female soccer players who performed the Prevent Injury, Enhance Performance (PEP) program, designed by physical therapists at Santa Monica Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Group in California. Those who performed the PEP program had an overall ACL injury rate that was 41% lower than that of a group of female athletes who performed their regular warm-up.
This was one of the largest studies conducted in the NCAA, with 1,435 athletes participating, according to the press release.
The PEP program, one example of the many physical therapy-based programs that have demonstrated an ability to reduce ACL injuries among female athletes, consists of sport-specific agility exercises and addresses potential deficits in the strength and neuromuscular coordination of the stabilizing muscles around the knee joint, according to the press release.
Physical therapist and APTA spokesperson Holly Silvers, MPT, who helped develop PEP, said in the press release, “The program was created to address the deficits that are seen in female athletes, particularly weakness in the lateral hip muscles, gluteal and core muscles.” These deficits can contribute to ACL injuries, she added.
According to physical therapist and APTA spokesperson Mark Paterno, PT, MS, MBA, SCS, ATC, recent research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that ACL tears occur four times more frequently in women than in men playing the same sports. He says the difference in neuromuscular control, or the way the muscles contract and react, is one of four primary factors contributing to why women are more susceptible to knee injuries than men. The other factors/discrepancies are anatomical, hormonal and biomechanical, he said.
“Women perform athletic tasks in a more upright position, putting added stress on parts of the knee such as the ACL, resulting in less controlled rotation of the joint,” Paterno said in the press release. “While men use their hamstring muscles more often, women rely more on their quadriceps, which puts the knee at constant risk. To combat these natural tendencies, physical therapists may develop a treatment program to improve strength, flexibility and coordination, as well as to counteract incorrect existing patterns of movement that may be damaging to joints.”
For more information:
- Sample exercises athletes can perform to avoid ACL injuries can be found on the APTA Web site at www.apta.org/consumer.