Study: Soccer leads to most ACL injuries in female athletes

Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have found that the majority of ACL injuries in female athletes come from playing soccer.

The highest ACL injury risks per season for girls were observed in soccer (1.1%), basketball (0.9%) and lacrosse (0.5%). For boys, football led the way (0.8%), followed by lacrosse (0.4%) and soccer (0.3%).

From Science20.com:

Knowledge of such sport-specific, seasonal risk is essential for evidenced-based parent-athlete decision-making, accurate physician counseling, and targeted injury-reduction programs for the most at-risk sports, said said lead author Alex L. Gornitzky, a fourth-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“As participation rates in high school athletics continues to rise significantly, it has become increasingly important to establish up-to-date, individualized injury information for high school athletes and their families, who represent a large proportion of patients visiting pediatric orthopedic and sports medicine clinics.”

The presentation on ACL tears in high school athletes was given last weekend at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference & Exhibition in Washington, D.C.