ACL Injuries in the Female Athlete : Causes, Impacts, and Conditioning Programs

Nearly a million anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries occur each year worldwide, causing long-term problems in the knee joint. This textbook examines the short- and long-term impacts of ACL injuries on the basis of hundreds of published studies. Risk factors for such injuries are explored using data from hypothesis-driven investigations, and possible causes of the higher risk of noncontact ACL injuries in female athletes are analyzed. Neuromuscular training programs shown to reduce the rate of these injuries in female athletes are described in step-by-step detail with the aid of numerous color photographs and video demonstrations. In addition, detailed descriptions are provided for rehabilitation programs to be used after ACL reconstruction in order to reduce the risk of a future injury. The book will be of value to orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, athletic trainers, sports medicine primary care physicians, and strength and conditioning specialists.

Frank R. Noyes, M.D. is an internationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon and researcher, and the Founder and Chairman of the Cincinnati SportsMedicine and Orthopaedic Center and its Research Foundation. Dr. Noyes completed his orthopaedic training at the University of Michigan nearly 4 decades ago. He then received a 4-year clinical and research appointment as an orthopaedic surgeon in the United States Air Force, was commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel, and began his landmark research into knee ligament injuries, the effects of immobilization, biomechanics of ligaments, prevention of ACL injuries in the female athlete, the diagnosis of all types of knee injuries and problems, and the results of treatment for a variety of knee disorders. Dr. Noyes established one of the first biomechanics laboratories in the U.S. at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering, the Noyes Tissue Engineering and Biomechanics Laboratory. He has won multiple awards for his research from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine, the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, and the University of Cincinnati. He was inducted into the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s Hall of Fame in 2008. He was selected as one of the 25 Best Knee Surgeons in the United States by Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review, 2010 and has been selected as one of the Best Doctors in America every year since 1992. Dr. Noyes is the authors of more than 260 journal articles and textbook chapters and co-editor of Noyes’ Knee Disorders: Surgery, Rehabilitation, Clinical Outcomes.

Sue D. Barber-Westin, B.S., has been Director of Clinical and Applied Research at the Cincinnati SportsMedicine Research and Education Foundation since 1985. She is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is a reviewer for the American Journal of Sports Medicine and Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach. In 2004, Sue was joint recipient of the ORFF Clinical Research Award, presented by the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons for the most distinguished clinical research project related directly to musculoskeletal disease or injury in the field of orthopaedics. She has published 127 manuscripts in peer-reviewed orthopaedic journals and textbooks and completed more than 60 clinical research projects involving 7,000 patients and volunteer subjects. She is an Associate Editor of the textbook Noyes’ Knee Disorders: Surgery, Rehabilitation, Clinical Outcomes.