Female athletes are four times more likely to sustain an ACL injury than men, and men are twice as likely to return to sport than women afterwards.
These staggering statistics sparked England captain Leah Williamson to call for urgent action, noting a total of 37 women were missing from the FIFA Women’s World Cup due to ACL tears.
Bond University PhD student Adam Walker has built his research off the back of these astonishing figures with the aim of optimising ACL rehabilitation and developing injury prevention strategies.
Adam’s professional life is focused on improving outcomes and optimising rehabilitation for people with knee pain and injury. His business, Gold Coast Knee Group, sees many female patients with ACL injuries.
“Because of the high incidence of ACL injuries in female athletes, my research shows there needs to be a strong focus on injury prevention strategies. These may include specific training programs, strengthening exercises, neuromuscular training, and education to reduce the risk of ACL injuries,” Adam said.
“It is well established that injury prevention programs reduce the incidence of both initial and subsequent reinjury of the ACL by at least 50 percent. However, there are currently poor rates of implementation of ACL injury prevention strategies in schools, communities and in recreational sports.”
Adam and his PhD Supervisor, Dr Larissa Sattler (B.S.P.E, M.Phty, PhD), Orthopaedic Physiotherapist and Assistant Professor of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy at Bond University hope the research will lead to change and raise awareness of the ever-growing issue.
The pair will present their findings during Bond University’s Research Week with the aim of helping coaches, parents and athletes better understand the risks contributing to high incidences of ACL injuries in girls and women and highlighting prevention programs that have been shown to reduce the risks.
“We hope that our talk improves people’s knowledge on the contributing factors to ACL injuries in female athletes and they take away some practical strategies that they can implement for themselves or their athletes to reduce the risk of ACL injuries,” Adam said.
Find out more about Adam and Larissa’s presentation here.