2023 ISAKOS Biennial Congress ePoster
Comparing Associated Injuries to ACL Lesion Between Female and Male Soccer Players, There are Differences? Epidemiological and Gender-Perspective Study of 1700 Soccer Players
David Barastegui, MD, PhD, MSc, L'hospitalet De Llobregat, BARCELONA SPAIN
Alfred Ferre, BPT, Barcelona, BARCELONA SPAIN
Pedro Alvarez-Diaz, MD, PhD, Prof., Barcelona SPAIN
Marta Rius, MD, Barcelona, Barcelona SPAIN
Eduard Alentorn-Geli, MD, PhD, MSc, FEBOT, FACGME, Barcelona SPAIN
Ester Sala, MD, Barcelona, Barcelona SPAIN
Gilbert Steinbacher, MD, Viladecans , Barcelona SPAIN
Ramon Cugat Bertomeu, MD, PhD, Barcelona, Barcelona SPAIN
Instituto Cugat. Mutualitat Catalana de Futbolistes. Federación Catalana de Fútbol. Real Fed. Española de Futbol, Barcelona, SPAIN
FDA Status Not Applicable
Summary
ACL injuries in female soccer players are more frequent than in male soccer player but, do injury patterns are the same? There are gender differences between associated lesions in ACL injuries in soccer players?
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Abstract
Introduction
In the recent years, the rise of women's soccer worldwide has brought a major problem due to the increase in knee injuries, and especially the ACL among the female players. Lately, recent the studies have shown significant differences in the ACL injury risk between female and male soccer players due to physiological and anatomical differences among groups. However, there are few studies assessing whether these injuries lead to more associated injuries and a worse prognosis or not between males and females.
The objective of this study is to obtain and evaluate a comparative study between female and male soccer players in terms of ACL associated injuries and their injury mechanisms.
M&M
The present study includes 1,764 soccer players (1,446 men and 298 women) federated and registered at the Catalan Federation of Soccer Players who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury between 2016-2021 seasons. Epidemiological data such as age, weight/height/BMI, contact surface, boot heels, mechanism of injury, time of injury, as well as associated meniscal and chondral injuries, was collected.
A comparative study was carried out with all data collected to assess if there were differences between female and male players.
Results
No significant differences in age, weight, height, and BMC were found. In both male and female groups, the vast majority played semi-professional federated soccer (Tegner 9 M:95.5% - F:96.9%) on artificial turf (M:93.9% - F:96%), using predominantly the long round heel (M: 26.7% - F: 25.5%) and the multi-round heel (M: 22.4% - F: 25.2%). Regarding the moment of the injury, the highest percentage of injuries were observed during the match (M: 70.3% - F: 75.6%).
The ACL associated injuries did not show statistically significant differences between groups, although it did show a tendency of a higher association of chondral injuries in male (23.1%) compared to the female players (19.4%), that was not observed in meniscal injuries (M: 54.4% - F: 52.8%). It is worthy to note the association of meniscal injuries is observed in more than a 1/2 of the ACL injury cases in both sexes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be highlighted that, although the ACL injury in soccer is more frequent (proportionally) in the female players, the epidemiological variables, and the mechanism of action of the injury are not statistically significant different between groups. No statistically significant differences were found in chondral and meniscal injuries associated to an ACL injury by sex.