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Factors Influencing Knee-Injury Risk
Please see also General Knee-Injury Epidemiology and Prevention and Female-Athlete Knee-Injury Incidence and Prevention as well as Biomechanics, Knee Alignment, and Component Interdependency (including articles dealing with Gait)
For a brief overview of knee anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics, please click here.
For profound insight into the fundamental material differences (e.g. lower strength, easier breakability, less elasticity, more frangibility) between the female and male ACLs, please see the superb December 2006 article Sex-based differences in the tensile properties of the human anterior cruciate ligament, by Naveen Chandrashekar et al., in the Female-Athlete Knee-Injury Incidence and Prevention Subsection.
For a comprehensive yet concise overview of the major issues still facing ACL-injured knees, please see the September 2006 article Understanding and Preventing Noncontact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries -- A Review of the Hunt Valley II Meeting, January 2005, by Letha Griffin et al., in the General Knee-Injury Epidemiology and Prevention Subsection.
For insight into the male-versus-female knee-injury rates in lacrosse, soccer, and basketball players, see the June 2006 article Comparing the Incidence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Collegiate Lacrosse, Soccer, and Basketball Players -- Implications for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Mechanism and Prevention, by Mihata et al., in the Female-Athlete Knee-Injury Incidence and Prevention Subsection.
For penetrating insight into female athlete ACL injuries and prevention avenues, please see the March 2006 articles Jump-Land Characteristics and Muscle Strength Development in Young Athletes -- A Gender Comparison of 1140 Athletes 9 to 17 Years of Age, by Sue Barber-Westin et al., and Effect of Gender and Maturity on Quadriceps-to-Hamstring Strength Ratio and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Laxity, by Christopher Ahmad et al., in the Female-Athlete Knee-Injury Incidence and Prevention Subsection.
For insight into the importance of landing jumps with knees well-flexed, see the March 2006 article Lower extremity biomechanics during the landing of a stop-jump task, by Bing Yu et al., in the General Knee-Injury Epidemiology and Prevention Subsection.
For insight into anatomical and physiological differences between male and female ACLs, please see the October 2005 article Sex-Based Differences in the Anthropometric Characteristics of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament and Its Relation to Intercondylar Notch Geometry A Cadaveric Study, by Naveen Chandrashekar et al., in the Female-Athlete Knee-Injury Incidence and Prevention Subsection.
The Familial Predisposition Toward Tearing the Anterior Cruciate Ligament -- A Case Control Study, Kevin Flynn et al.; American Journal of Sports Medicine, Baltimore; January 2005; Volume 33, pages 23-28. Comments: This study shows that there is clearly a genetic proclivity towards ACL tearing. Note that genetic make-up influences anatomy (e.g. knock-kneedness), joint laxity (e.g. joints which hyperextend greatly), and other factors. Although determining all the genetically-related causes of ACL-tearing predilection will not be easy, it stands to reason that if everyone in your family except yourself has torn at least one ACL, and if you are about to sign up for a knee-demanding sports league (e.g. soccer, basketball, volleyball), then you might wish either to consider pursuing different sports (i.e. ones which are not associated with high ACL-injury risk) or to consult a knee-experienced physiotherapist for training advice and then perhaps pursue a knee-injury-prevention training program (e.g. Cincinnati Sportsmetrics). Note that such knee-injury-prevention training is also helpful from the standpoint of improved athletic performance, at it will boost one's jumping height and sprinting speed. Note, too, that genetic predispositions to knee-ligament injuries can also arise as a consequence of inheritable traits such as knock-kneedness, loose-jointedness, or vestibular-system firmware problems.
For insight into the biomechanical differences between females and males during rapid acceleration-deceleration activities, including greater anterior-drawer shearing and inwards torquing at the knee, see the following article by Kerrigan et al.: A Comparison of Knee Kinetics between Male and Female Recreational Athletes in Stop-Jump Tasks, in the Female-Athlete Knee-Injury Incidence and Prevention Subsection.
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