Child Health, Fitness, Injury Prevention, Orthopedics

More children are getting ACL injuries – here’s what could be done to prevent them

One particularly nasty sporting injury is damage to the ACL – the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee, which attaches the thigh (femur) and shin (tibia) bones. ACL injuries have rocketed among children in England, and our research suggests that one cause of this is that children are not developing basic movement skills, such as jumping and hopping.

Fitness, Musculoskeletal, Orthopedics, Surgery, Women's Health

Female football players are at much higher risk of career-ending ACL injuries – the science on why

Females have a wider pelvis relative to leg length, which results in increased angulation at the knee. The shape of the bones is also different in women in that the ACL passes through a narrower space to attach to the thigh bone, which may make it more susceptible to injury. The actual size of the ACL is also often smaller in females, so may be less able to withstand high forces.