HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Sofia Tepitin was about 30 minutes into her club soccer team’s practice in October when she spotted a defender quickly approaching her. She tapped the ball, jumped over the defender’s outstretched legs, landed awkwardly, and heard a pop.
She immediately fell to the ground, her left knee hurting and she knew this wasn’t good. It was “heartbreaking,” she said.
“And I knew personally that I tore my ACL,” Tepitin said.
Tepitin joins a growing number of female high school athletes suffering serious knee injuries, including torn anterior cruciate ligaments, and researchers are calling on the sports world to take it more seriously.
Despite decades of research into prevention methods, parents, researchers and trainers say teams, coaches and leagues aren’t doing enough to protect girls and educate parents.
High school female athletes are the most vulnerable.
Sports fans often hear stories about famous athletes like the U.S. Olympic skier. lindsay vonn Many people tear their anterior cruciate ligament, and most anterior cruciate ligament injuries are attributed to bad luck or a part of the sport, and will continue to occur at all levels of competition.
Still, high school female athletes are much more likely than male athletes to suffer such injuries, up to eight times more likely in one study, and adults say they occur most often in non-contact situations in sports that require quick changes of direction.
Biomechanics researchers, trainers and physical therapists say pre-workout warm-up and strengthening routines such as FIFA 11+ and PEP can at least reduce the risk of physically and mentally taxing injuries for young athletes.
But they say most coaches receive no training or expert assistance, and high school girls compete with far fewer resources than at the professional or college level. As a result, risk mitigation routines are rarely incorporated into day-to-day coaching curriculum and practice.
“The real crime in this case is that the data was publicly available for 25 years,” said Holly Silvers Granelli, a physical therapist and biomechanics researcher who advises athletes, professional teams and major sports leagues on injury prevention. “People are crying out for answers, and we almost always have them.”
Trends in anterior cruciate ligament injuries are not completely clear, but the National Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Coalition, formed by the Aspen Institute and the New York Hospital for Special Surgery, said its analysis of data from high school athletic trainers showed that the average annual rate of anterior cruciate ligament injuries among high school athletes increased by nearly 26% from 2007 to 2022.
The percentage for girls increased by more than 32%, compared to 14.5% for boys.
to recover on their own
High school athletes and their parents often have to deal with injuries on their own. ACL injuries may require surgery and a year of rehabilitation, physical therapy, and strength training, which may not be fully covered by insurance.
Recovery changes their routines and identities. They lose team camaraderie and stand on the sidelines, which parents say is just as painful as the physical trauma.
The National Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Coalition says that many high school athletes who tear their ACL never perform at the same level again, even if they return to play. And once injured, the researchers say, the risk of reinjury to the anterior cruciate ligament and long-term complications such as degenerative joint disease increases.
At a time when professional and youth sports are looking to improve training, the federation is calling on the sports world to treat anterior cruciate ligament injuries the same way they treat brain injuries. rule and Device Standards for preventing and detecting concussions.
Sophia Gerardi, a sophomore at Apollo Ridge High School in Pennsylvania, tore her anterior cruciate ligament during a basketball game in December, and doctors told her she would have to wear a knee brace permanently in order to play sports. She underwent surgery in January, missed the volleyball season, and hopes to return for next winter’s basketball season.
Like many girls who have torn their ACL, she didn’t remember receiving ACL injury prevention training.
Vince Minjares, director of the Aspen Institute’s Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Prevention Project, said surveys of coaches show many don’t know about risk reduction programs and aren’t trained or encouraged to learn about them. Some coaches say Minjares takes too much time.
He hopes that’s about to change.
“What is the solution?”
This spring, the U.S. Youth Soccer Organization, one of the major national organizations for youth soccer, will roll out a new age- and stage-specific neuromuscular training program aimed at preventing anterior cruciate ligament injuries during warm-ups.
Coaches follow video instructions to get bite-sized exercise plans. The goal is for preteens to develop good habits before participating in more physical and demanding competitions.
“My biggest shock was that this didn’t exist yet,” said Scott Snyder, AYSO’s senior director of programs and education. “Everyone I talk to says, ‘Oh, that makes sense,’ but no one has done it yet.”
Last year, biomechanics researchers at Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in the Dallas metropolitan area began offering high school teams a resource typically only available or affordable at the professional or college level.
They created pre-season injury prevention training tailored for female athletes to improve strength and quality of movement. At the beginning of the 8-week program, each athlete receives a free 3D motion capture assessment to identify weaknesses in strength, movement, and balance. Finally, another evaluation is performed to determine whether the program reduced risk.
Sofia Ullmann, director of the hospital’s exercise science institute, said future training could also include nutrition and sleep.
“My team and I were tired of thinking ‘why, why, why,’ when there are so many possibilities to answer that question. And we wanted to move on to, ‘What is the solution?'” Ullman said. Other biomechanics labs in the U.S. are trying to provide similar support, she said.
One of the teams involved was Plano East High School in Texas, whose players, including Tepitin, had suffered a rash of torn ACLs in recent years.
Plano East coach Christy Cooley said having a trained professional demonstrate proper exercises and movement patterns makes a big difference.
“That’s one story,” Cooley said. “But what they show us is something completely different.”
“Something has to change.”
Like other parents, Tiffany Jacob said she has learned a lot about preventing ACL injuries that she wishes she had known before her daughter, East Plano sophomore Aliyah Jacob, tore her ACL last February. For example, surgeons told soccer players that strength training three days a week is absolutely necessary.
“Something has to change,” Tiffany Jacob said. “Coach, club, something. They have to do something to prevent this because this is a really bad injury.”
Aliyah’s mother said she knows of at least seven female soccer players who have torn their anterior cruciate ligaments and are currently playing in East Plano. She endured twice-weekly physical therapy, isolated rehabilitation, and, according to her mother, “figured out who she was when she wasn’t playing soccer.”
Tepitin, a high school senior, recalls that her surgeon told her to take a few days to let all her grief and anger go away and then focus on her recovery.
She will miss her last year playing high school and club soccer. Her next time on the field will be at St. Vincent University in Pennsylvania, where she could end up playing for an NCAA Division III team.
Tepitin has seen a sports psychologist, received comfort from others who have undergone surgery (his sister, father, friends) and found a new routine after being busy with two soccer teams and work.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t work out or do something,” she said. “Or they’re getting better for their health and recovery.”
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