The ACL Epidemic

 by Jamie Head

Why are ACL dominating the women’s sport industry and are becoming a huge scare for so many top tier players. To start with, we need to understand what an ACL consist off and how is stops the players from competing in their sport they love. An ACL is a tear or sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) — one of the strong bands of tissue that help connect your thigh bone (femur) to your shinbone (tibia). Many people hear of feel a “popping” in their knee and this can cause a server pain for the players. Due to the severity of an ACL, it will lead to player having to go through a large amount of therapy to help get them to level they once were. 

Why is it dominating the women’s sport?

Even though, ACL can happen in for men’s players, such as Neymar in October 2023, it is far more common in women. This is due to the structure of the knee joint in women plays a big role in putting them at a higher risk for an ACL tear. Also, women’s joints — including the knee — generally have more looseness and range of motion than men’s. Women also often have less muscle mass around the knee, contributing to more instability, which can lead to a ligament tear if the ligament gets overstretched. Although, even with understanding there is still an uncertainty that lingers in the women’s game as to how to help prevent this awful, career damaging injury. 

The effect in women’s football?

Despite that this is a recurring injury and problem for many women in sport, a topic of discussion of ACL is in the women’s football industry. Due to the demand in injuries that has happened to serious players in such a crucial and important year, with the Women’s world cup being held in summer, many are starting to question the effect this is having on the women’s game. With Arsenal having a detrimental season with four crucial players- Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema, Leah Williamson and Laura Wienroither- all suffering from non-contact ACL injury.Many questions have started to be raised to FIFA as what they are going to do about this huge problem, by not just team managers but by players themselves.

What FIFA is doing about it?

As mentioned, several stars were gutted to missed out on this year's FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand due to succumbing to ACL injuries and have therefore started to call out FIFA. FIFA is looking at reducing ACL injuries in the women’s game, but their initial research shows a multitude of areas that need addressing versus "one or two" tweaks to solve it.The chief women’s football officer has stated that they have been conducting research project for the last 18 months as they a desperate to help address’s part of the gender problem of health of players in the game. However, the biggest problem is that the answer isn’t simple, and multiple studies therefore are needed meaning much more money is necessary to conduct this and solve this problem.  Furthermore, even with demand from players, clubs and fans it will take time and FIFA has stated it is trying its best. 

The treatment for an ACL?

There are two treatments options for ACL injuries: Nonsurgical treatment such as a brace and Surgical reconstruction of the ACL. Due to the fact that the choice of treatment depends on factors such as age, your activity level and severity of injury- football players are far more likely to go through surgery to restore the internal structure of the knee to enable maximal stability. Therefore, while recovery from procedure is fairly simple, the therapy needed after can be demanding.The physical therapy and rehabilitation is tough for players and sets them out of their sports between six to twelve months. It takes time, patient and a positive mindset through this whole period of recovery and is proven to be challenging for many players. It is a part in sport where we can see that protecting and keeping a good mental health is imperative. Many players have said that the surgery was nothing compared to the ‘emotional rollercoaster’ of the therapy during their absence. For instance, Miedma has stated that ‘football was her happy place and she quoted that the emotions varied throughout her treatment: “From the initial sadness and anger when getting injured, to the anxiety and being scared for surgery and your rehab and not being on the pitch makes the treatment feel lonely”.Therefore, treatment is long and tiring for the players and requires much hardworking resilient mindset from them. 

This dreaded three letter word epidemic has had a positive milestone for women’s sport as the vast majority of players and clubs who have suffered due this injury is now on mission to find out why. The research has increased and organisations such as FIFA are starting to make it a priority (as the women’s football industry is starting to increase). Although, this injury still leaves us with many questions and a continuous number of players falling under the dreaded, painful curse of an ACL. Furthermore, as we understand how difficult an ACL injury the player receives huge amount support which is so important due to the huge mental battle this injury can hold for players. The only way we can suppress this epidemic is through progression within the women’s sport health research and players speaking up to help gain a deeper understanding of their experiences, which is starting to happen far more.