Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Are ACL Tears Really More Common in Women?
www.yalemedicine.org ^ | February 14, 2020 | CARRIE MACMILLAN

Posted on 08/24/2025 8:59:18 PM PDT by kawhill

It may be hard to remember a time when it was uncommon for girls and women to play competitive sports, but it’s not exactly ancient history. The 1972 passage of Title IX, which mandated equal access for women to participate in sports and other educational activities that receive federal funding, gets credit for dramatically increasing the number of girls and women playing sports.

(Excerpt) Read more at yalemedicine.org ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; History; Science
KEYWORDS: acl; sports; tears; women

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.


1 posted on 08/24/2025 8:59:18 PM PDT by kawhill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: kawhill

Girls were cuter and sweeter then with better posture, and they weren’t fat.


2 posted on 08/24/2025 9:01:55 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

Not sure but I’d believe it. With wider pelvises, the angles of their femurs are more inward than mens, vertical stresses put more stress on the femur even though women weigh less and also have less upper body mass than men. Further mens muscles are denser (plus we have more) and can take more stress than females. We have significantly more fast twitch fibers and thats what makes our muscle fibers denser.

So I completely believe this is plausible.


3 posted on 08/24/2025 9:11:05 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Yes, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are significantly more common in women than in men. Studies have shown that female athletes are 4-8 times more likely to experience an ACL injury.

Women are more prone to ACL tears than men due to a combination of anatomical, hormonal, and biomechanical factors, including wider hips leading to a greater quadriceps-angle, smaller ligament size, less muscle mass and endurance around the knee, and neuromuscular factors affecting landing and cutting techniques. Even hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle can also increase ligament laxity, further increasing the risk of injury.

Interesting enough, ACL tears are not more common in female ballet dancers. In fact, they have a lower rate of ACL injury compared to male dancers and female athletes in other sports, likely due to specialized training that emphasizes alignment and proper landing techniques.

And this is one of the problems in training women for combat with combatives. They are training along side their male counterparts and their bodies are not equal is size, weight, and muscle mass.

wy69


4 posted on 08/24/2025 9:12:20 PM PDT by whitney69
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: kawhill
Are ACL Tears Really More Common in Women?

Yes.

I notice the source is Yale. Are we supposed to pretend that both sexes are the same?

5 posted on 08/24/2025 9:13:37 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

I’ve read that 15% of the female Army officers had pelvis fractures from marching, those are from a 15 or 25 year old book.


6 posted on 08/24/2025 9:14:28 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

Yes they are.

Because their hips are wider the knees are more susceptible to lateral damage. This is especially true for basketball players.


7 posted on 08/24/2025 9:20:29 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: whitney69

When women in the military comes up I mention how they affect the pension system for disabilities and are taking over the VAs, although their numbers are so small.


8 posted on 08/24/2025 9:21:42 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

The WNBA has been shedding players left and right due to knee injuries. The last straw and last entertaining player to leave with an ACL is tough than nails is Sophie Cunningham, and she said the hit that put her down was clean. The women don’t have the quod strength unless you’re maybe Angel Reese. They have small rosters, the bench campers aren’t always a big inprovement, and many on the bench are less than half strength themselves. The rosters aren’t big enough the schedule is too tight, the refereeing is just a water downed street ball league: no blood no foul.


9 posted on 08/24/2025 9:25:47 PM PDT by JusPasenThru (Boobs are fascicoded.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

I studied up on this when my daughter was big into rhythmic gymnastics, dance and figure skating.

If women/girls train or play like boys, they see more knee injuries because of their different physiology.

I recall reading that the risk can be mitigated somewhat if girls are taught/trained to play differently than boys.

Just like my son who was prone to ankle sprains. I told to him to be conscientious and recognize his limitations by actively avoiding dangerous behavior (wild jumping for rebounds or blocking shots in his case w/o thinking about landing safely).


10 posted on 08/24/2025 9:34:06 PM PDT by 13foxtrot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

In my experience, liberal tears are more common.

/s

The sourcing & tone of this ‘discussion’ raises questions...

...because it sure sounds like Yale is asserting that female athletes ought be genuinely female (”hormones” & “menstrual cycles,” etc.).


11 posted on 08/24/2025 9:46:31 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 "/!i!! &@$%&*(@ -')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

Women definitely cry more ACL tears than men do.


12 posted on 08/24/2025 10:50:50 PM PDT by webheart (Notice how I said all of that without any hyphens, and only complete words? )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: webheart
Women definitely cry more ACL tears than men do.

You're thinking of NaCl tears.

Regards,

13 posted on 08/24/2025 10:59:53 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

Q Angle being larger puts more stress from the hips to the foot
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Q_Angle

And it not just athletic women… it’s all women. Even couch potato women…More hip bursitis, the patellar tracking syndrome etc


14 posted on 08/25/2025 3:01:24 AM PDT by Bulwinkle (Bulwinkle, a.k.a. Daffy Duck )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

From personal experience of training girls soccer team: ACL injuries started only when players hit their puberty. Clearly, hormonal change makes the ligaments less resilient to mechanical stress.


15 posted on 08/25/2025 4:04:52 AM PDT by exinnj
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kawhill

All these tears are probably just caused by creatine-caused higher water levels in muscles.


16 posted on 08/25/2025 4:48:06 AM PDT by montag813
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson