Knee Injuries

My DD has decided to do her senior project on knee injuries, and it is really interesting....For An Ie..... Girls are 4 to 8 times more likely to have a knee injury due to genectic and structural makeup than boys..and guess which part ?? you got it--- ACL . Guess which sports are more likely to tear the ACL ?? It aint softball, but rather Basketball, Soccer,and who would guess it but handball....Surgery to repair the ACL is a 627 million dollar a year industry....her report has surely educated me....girls, yes ladies do not know how to land correctly after a jump and due to your pelvic design causes the knees to buckle or become misaligned during a land after a jump such as in basketball...a sudden twist in soccer as changing direction all of a sudden also causes injury to the knee, and it has been determined that girls genectic makeup or the estrogen in their blood is one dominant feature that causes such trauma to the knee due to the weakened of the ligaments !! Remember there is only 50-80% chance once you tear the ACL that you will have a 100% usesage of your knee.........how do you keep this from happening ?? There is no full proof remedy, but strength training is one efficient way to help avoid injury to the knee or other parts of the body that are vulnerable to injury....Rehabilitation could take up to a year, but new technology has help reduce the repair time down to 6 months, but no guarantees of full usesage of the leg,and here is the nasty part, as a young athlete approaches her thirties sometimes arthritist will take hold and "NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY " ........ Guru

 

My daughter partially tore her acl playing against Lee County in bb. She mended enough to play softball in the spring. She tore it completely backing up a bad throw to first against Lee County. Still has some issues with the acl repair.

During her playing years she was MVP in middle school. MVP twice at Enloe. All-Conference MVP in the Cap 7 conference. Played a little TB.

In May she will graduate with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.

If we had it all to do over again? I wouldn't let her near a softball field.

You're absolutely right about strengthening and conditioning being the best way to avoid an acl injury. And if there is any doubt whatsoever that it may be a torn ligament DEMAND an MRI. The insurance company will fight you but it's your kid and it's your insurance money you're paying for.

And when you're coaching look out for the players. They'll play beyond what they should, so you've got to watch 'em!

 

This is very educational. I hope that softball embraces strength and conditioning like their baseball counterparts. There are very few elite showcase teams and certainly not many hs teams that don't work on core and leg strength conditioning. The introduction to the importance of this is the major change between players of yesteryear and today's players.

I would imagine volleyball players would be high on this list, also.

 

my DD

strained her MCL early this past season, and I learned a lot of this information during info gathering time. I see a couple of things in general.

talking striclty softball.
1. After all the docs and therapists I worked with, yes, strengthening workouts are key. What I have noticed though, is that weight training in general starts in highschool. where as the largest growth spurts is 12-15. That, and, the competitive level really starts to ramp up there as well, as the kids able to play up becuase of their a, practiced skills, or b their natuaral athletism, or some combination. you have 14 or sometimes 13year olds playing up a bit in a situation that applies stronger play. in both of these cases, this all happens, before highschool training. I think for athletes, and I dont want to get on the to much to soon band wagon, but it does seem some of that info is coming....to late. My kid was lucky, she didnt tear, and she played the entire season, although pulling every muscle in that leg all year, not to say she will ever be out of the woods, however, surgery this time was not necessary.

2. Most folks that dont go through this, have kids that do go through back pain. folks that have young, strong kids, coming up (10-12) listen. you might have a kid, that is lean, mean and built for speed. can she keep her legs straight and touch the ground. If not, and those Hammies are tooo tight, you are headed for trouble, start now. I was told this about my kid ( and not oldly enough 2 others on her very team) start stretching that is.
Know that, the muscles from your back, go underneath your pelvic area, attach to leg in some places, and one allll the way to your knee. yep. so if your hammies or quads are tight, they are pulling on your back as well. and what I have been told, and seen in my case, is that although this kid doesnt have any fat on her, her muscles were to tight to give. Stretching, and I dont mean a couple of passes of whatever pre game line drills the team does, I mean 10 or so minutes of specialized mechanic stretching. Kids at the 12-14 think nothing of it, I am telling you, this needs to be reviewed for kids that have that no give attitude. not saying that kids that carry some weight or dont have as much muscle mass dont, not so, the back muscles are still doing a lot of work, and need stretched. I am willing to be my bottom dollar (seeing that is all that is left after a season), that a lot of pitchers have this. I dont care what size you are. your mechanics can be perfect, but if you are pushing, and you are not stretching, it will be most likely you will be battling some of this.

So the implication in my mind is, we start the serious body training, these days, later than it should, after they have already grown and they dont know the train wreck is coming. even a slightly sore lower back is a huuuuge red flag.

So yes, training key, complete stretching, a must. and folks if they dont want to, force them.

Just a thought after a long sore season.

 

I can tell you plenty about knee injuries especially ACL. My DD tore hers in her senior year playing basketball. If girls will get into conditioning and strength conditioning it will prepare them to better compete especially if they are multisport athletes. She had to go through 3 knee surgeries and a full year of everyday rehab. She is now a senior at GWU and has played softball for 4 years.

 

---- There you go !!!!

 

Don't forget the hamstrings

While going through knee rehabilitation in two states (blew my knee out running down hill) I asked several certified therapists and trainers why women were 6 time as likely to have an ACL injury than men. Everyone refered to a recent scientific study that showed when a woman jumps-lands-changes direction they only fire their quads. The hamstrings are not working . Men fire both the quads and the hams. This protects the knee. They all suggested the girls work on exercising and developing their Hamstrings more so they will naturally fire when needed. Good health to all.

 

I totally agree about the hamstrings. My DD was told the same thing about strengthening the hammys

 

Well I guess in the "every rule made to be broken" scenario, is that my kids hamms, are like rocks. I mean, unbendable pillars of granite (slim as she may be). so both sports therapists said the same thing. Her inability to be flexible and not stretching, pulled her back muscles till they were sore, when her back got tired, she her knees took the shift in balance. on the other side of the coin, her strong leg muscle mass, probably saved her knee from buckling all together.

I think eveyone agrees, more technical builing and education earlier, needs to be happening. maybe through this discussion, we opened a few eyes early enough. every player that listens, counts and wins.

 

Proper conditioning can help but . . . .

you can't change mother nature. There are anatomical differences in men and women that simply make women more likely to suffer knee injuries of all types if place under comparable stress. For example, at one time Pat Summit was 'encouraging' all potential UT basketball recruits to be evaluated for "knee risk" before offering a schollie.

This was one factor, among many others, that caused my DD and I to decide that basketball simply wasn't worth the risk after middle school. She continued with Vball for two years but dropped that after the coach demanded summer workouts. I was relieved as I knew softball was the $$ sport for her.