Increased knee-laxity measures may contribute to increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Strength training as a single intervention method may not be sufficient to reduce the risk of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury in female recreational athletes.
Female soccer and basketball players had an anterior cruciate ligament injury rate seven times that of male players.
The integrative effects of fatigue and decision making may represent a worst case scenario in terms of anterior cruciate ligament injury risk during dynamic single leg landings.
Females display knee moments and kinematics that may place them at greater risk for ACL injury during a stop-cut task. Females should be coached to perform stop cuts with more knee flexion and a more neutral knee rotation angle upon foot contact in an effort to reduce moments that may place the ACL at risk (Wallace BJ. Kernozek TW. Bothwell EC. Lower extremity kinematics and kinetics of Division III collegiate baseball and softball players while performing a modified pro-agility task. Journal of Sports Medicine & Physical Fitness. 47(4):377-84, 2007).
Women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction have neuromuscular strategies that allow them to land from a jump similar to healthy women, but they exhibit joint moments that could predispose them to future injury if they participate in sports that require jumping and landing. (Ortiz A. Olson S. Libby CL. Trudelle-Jackson E. Kwon YH. Etnyre B. Bartlett W. Landing mechanics between noninjured women and women with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction during 2 jump tasks. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 36(1):149-57, 2008.
Altered equilibrium position of the tibiofemoral joint associated with reduced patellar ligament insertion angle and adaptations of gait patterns following anterior cruciate ligament injury may be associated with degenerative changes in the articular cartilage (Shin CS. Chaudhari AM. Dyrby CO. Andriacchi TP. The patella ligament insertion angle influences quadriceps usage during walking of anterior cruciate ligamentdeficient patients. Journal of Orthopaedic Research. 25(12):1643-50, 2007 Dec.
Revision anterior cruciate ligament surgery allowed approximately 60% of patients to go back to sports, most of them at lower levels than their prerevision function. Instrumented laxity of <3 mm was associated with a better result. Radiographic arthritis was associated with duration of instability symptoms after primary failure. Patients who undergo revision anterior cruciate ligament surgery should be counseled as to the expected outcome and cautioned that this procedure probably represents a salvage situation and may not allow them to return to their desired levels of function. Battaglia MJ 2nd. Cordasco FA. Hannafin JA. Rodeo SA. O’Brien SJ. Altchek DW. Cavanaugh J. Wickiewicz TL. Warren RF. Results of revision anterior cruciate ligament surgery.American Journal of Sports Medicine. 35(12):2057-66, 2007