ACL tears in women: Too many injuries and too little research By Amy WestAug. 2, 2024

https://www.statnews.com/2024/08/02/acl-tear-female-athletes-suffer-torn-acl-more-than-men/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_wy2jUGqjXPLHDcPg_fHm19cu_PrJcjFsDqiqgYgW3V2sGyfBVoF4lRCHsxFn8P0duxw-iodWw6gXLtkh9P-6NYN1i1w&_hsmi=318390621&utm_content=318390621&utm_source=hs_email Female athletes are absolutely killing it at the Olympics. But did you know that there are a bunch of women athletes sitting out the 2024 Games because of ACL tears, and that women are three to six times more likely to endure an ACL tear than men? In a STAT First Opinion, sports medicine physician Amy West explains that there’s research showing estrogen can contribute to the stretchiness of ligaments like the ACL, and that in the second half of the menstrual cycle, progesterone may reduce the body’s ability to recover from physical activity. Woman are often left out of scientific research because their hormonal cycles make studies too complicated, writes West, but she and colleagues are studying 180 female collegiate athletes to find the relationship between injury and menstrual cycles. Read more from West, along with this 2023 STAT piece on how the gendered research gap is hurting women athletes. https://www.statnews.com/2023/05/19/sports-medicine-women-athletes/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--MFTDmSjSldKRJSdGfGLuwezmLJVg_0JDWELROOZC_RCKpjkjFcRx__rWNam1aKWDsNmoWkx8rk3pKy2OlB4A5sk0yaQ&_hsmi=318390621&utm_content=318390621&utm_source=hs_email