What sports have the most ACL tears? | Curovate

by Alenna Stirpe - Kinesiologist

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The highest risk of anterior cruciate ligament injuries or ACL injuries are for people who play sports where there is a lot of changing directions, pivoting and jumping.1 Females have a 2-8 times higher chance of injuring their ACL’s compared to males. Learn more about the issue of females being more likely to tear their ACL by reading this blog. With most ACL injuries occurring between the ages of 15 and 45.1

In what sports do the most ACL injuries happen?

Studies consistently list basketball and soccer as sports that cause ACL injuries.1,2 However, it is possible to injure the ACL in other sports that require a lot of pivoting, cutting (changing directions quickly), jumping and contact sports.1 Female athletes tend to be more at risk of ACL injuries.1

Using data from the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance System (ISS) 5000 ACL injuries were recorded from 1988 to 2004. Based on this data sports are ranked below based on the number of ACL injuries. On the left side of this table the number of ACL injuries that occurred as a percentage compared to all other injuries in a sport. On the right of this table the number of ACL injuries that were recorded per 1000 games and practices (also called exposures).

ACL injuries as a percentage compared to all injuries3 Injury rate per 1000 exposures3
1. Women’s basketball (tied) 1. Men’s spring football (tied)
1. Women’s gymnastics (tied) 1. Women’s gymnastics (tied)
2. Women’s Lacrosse 2. Women’s soccer
3. Women’s soccer 3. Women’s basketball
4. Men’s spring football 4. Men’s football
5. Men’s football 5. Men’s football
6. Women’s softball 6. Men’s wrestling
7. Women’s volleyball 7. Men’s wrestling
8. Women’s field hockey 8. Men’s soccer
9. Men's wrestling 9. Women's volleyball
10. Men's basketball 10. Women's softball
11. Men's soccer 11. Women's field hockey
12. Men's ice hockey 12. Men's basketball
13. Women's ice hockey 13. Men's ice hockey
14. Men's baseball 14. Women's ice hockey

If you have sustained an ACL tear from playing one of these sports above there is an app, Curovate, to help you with your daily recovery. Curovate provides ACL injury and ACL surgery recovery exericses to help you return back to the sport you love. Curovate provides your daily physical therapy exercises, tracks your daily exercise progress, has in-app chat with a physical therapist to answer your questions and allows you to measure your knee range of motion with the app. Download Curovate from the links below.

If you need further customized assistance during your ACL injury or ACL surgery check out our Virtual Physical Therapy page to book your 1-on-1 video session with a physical therapist.

Other Blogs Related to ACL Injuries:

References

  1. Griffin LY, Agel J, Albohm MJ, et al. Noncontact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries: Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies. J Am Acad Orthop Sur. 2000; 8(3): 141- 150 ↩

  2. Voskanian N. ACL Injury prevention in female athletes: review of the literature and practical considerations in implementing an ACL prevention program. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2013; 6: 158- 163. doi: 10.1007/s12178-013-9158-y ↩

  3. Renstrom P, Ljungqvist A, Arendt E, et al. Non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes: An international olympic committee current concepts statement. Br J Sports Med. 2008;42(6):394-412. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2008.048934. ↩