Wednesday, February 27, 2008
more policy related information
policy related information
policy
I got a lot of good information from this source.
Monday, February 11, 2008
I really enjoy this reading i love how it keeps us guess on where they are and why they are there and everything else about it.
New Research Suggest Hormones Put Females at Higher Risk of ACL Injury
DALLAS (December 4, 2001) - A new study commissioned by the National Athletic Trainers' Association Research and Education Foundation found that gender specific differences account for the high occurrence of ACL injuries in females. Results of the study were presented at the NATA Annual Meeting and Clinical Symposia in June and an abstract was recently published in the Journal of Athletic Training, the quarterly scientific publication of the National Athletic Trainers' Association.
The study found that females are more prone to knee laxity and ACL graft failure after ligament reconstruction. This suggests that the type of hormone (testosterone in males vs. estrogen or progesterone in females) or the nature of exposure to it (sustained in males vs. cyclic in females) could affect the remodeling capabilities of the ACL and thereby alter the mechanical properties of the ligament. Therefore, female hormones produce episodic shifts in the balance of remodeling toward net tissue degradation, while no such shift occurs in males.
The study was conducted at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center by Stephen Fuzie, ATC, and James Slauterbeck, MD. "This is the first report correlating ACL injury to cycle day with confirmation of the actual hormonal level," said Fuzie. "It is our opinion that the clustering of injury early in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle is a result of hormone changes within the ligament that occur following the rise of both progesterone and estrogen levels in the luteal phase."
A key component to the hypothesis was to identify a period of time during the menstrual cycle where a disproportionate number of ACL injuries occur. Also, the study was designed to determine if ACL injury occurs randomly or is clustered around a specific phase of the menstrual cycle and to confirm the injury date and menstrual history by estrogen and progesterone measurements taken from saliva.
A total of 37 female athletes - 25 college and 12 high school - were evaluated at the time of ACL injury over a three-year period. A questionnaire was filled out and a physical exam, MRI or surgery confirmed ACL injury. The correlations between saliva and serum estrogen and progesterone were 73 percent and 72 percent, respectively. Twenty-six of the 37 athletes injured their ACLs during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Most ACL injuries occurred during the early part of the follicular phase of the cycle and decreased as the cycle progressed.
The Foundation, affiliated with the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA), is dedicated to enhancing healthcare for the physically active through funding and support of research and education. NATA's 21,000-plus certified athletic trainers are experts in providing quality healthcare and applying the latest research and techniques in the evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries.
This article showed a more in depth research where they monitored girls in sports and when they tore their acl and how it relates to the time in their cycle... this helped to understand the timing a bit more.
by Sheila Dwyer, Knee1 Staff
Doctors have long wondered why women are eight times more likely than men to injure their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) when playing sports. Mounting evidence suggests that biology could be partly to blame.
Results from a study on women and ACL tears were presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine in Colorado. Dr. Edward Wojtys of the University of Michigan headed up the study, which revealed that women are three times more likely to tear the ACL during ovulation than at other times of the month.
“Women are up to eight times more likely to sustain this knee injury than men—and now there is mounting evidence that hormonal activity, particularly the increase in estrogen seen mid-cycle, may play a role in increasing the risk of this injury,” Wojtys told HealthScout.
The study involved 65 women between the ages of 18 and 38 with acute ACL injuries. Researchers tracked their hormone levels through urine samples taken within 24 hours of injury. Through measurement of estrogen, progesterone, and lutenizing hormone metabolites, researchers concluded that women were at a greater risk of ACL injury during days 10 through 14 of the menstrual cycle (ovulation) and at a lesser risk during days 15 through the end of the cycle.
Experts involved with the study do not believe that ACL injuries in women can be blamed entirely on hormones. Because women sustain ACL injuries throughout the menstrual cycle, hormones are most likely only part of the answer.
“There are a variety of intrinsic factors involved here—hormonal, anatomic, muscle factors—plus we can’t forget training differences in men and women, with women generally taking up sports at a later age than men,” Dr. Elliott Hershman of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York told HealthScout.
The study also showed that birth control pills might have a positive, protective effect on the knees. Fourteen of the women involved in the study were taking oral contraceptives at the time of injury. Their rate of mid-cycle ACL injury was significantly lower than that of women who were not taking birth control pills.
Dr. Wojtys cautions against misreading the results of the study: “We don’t want this material to press the panic button. This research does not justify pulling young ladies out of sports or putting young women on oral contraceptives to prevent ligament injuries.”
ACL injury is damage to the ligament that provides stability to the knee. It usually results from a twisting or impact injury. It can be an incomplete injury (sprain), partial tear (avulsion), or a complete tear. If an athlete’s muscles are not properly conditioned, jumping or cutting motions may cause a serious ACL injury.
Reference:
www.yahoo.com
This article not only told me all the information that the others did as well it also informed me how birth control can help with this situation and eating properly and those kind of things can help in maybe preventing these injuries
another interesting website
Dr. Kurt Spindler and colleagues were honored recently for a study to be published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.
“The Effect of the Menstrual Cycle on ACL Injuries in Women as Determined by Hormone Levels,” was presented at the 27th annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine this past summer. The study won the O’Donoghue Sports Injury Research Award, presented annually to the best overall clinical research paper.
It has been proven that women are more susceptible to tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than men are; but the reasons are unknown. The study finds that women are nearly three times more likely to injure their ACL during ovulation than during other times of their menstrual cycle, according to Spindler, vice chairman of Orthopaedics and director of Sports Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and research colleagues.
“Females have an increased frequency, or in other words a greater risk to tear their ACL at mid-cycle around ovulation,” Spindler said. “Yet, we don’t know why.”
Spindler and four researchers from across the country evaluated 65 women over three years to determine menstrual cycle phase at the time of injury. The cycle phase was determined by hormone and metabolite measurements obtained through urine samples within 24 hours of the injury.
According to the researchers, young women involved in organized sports are expected to suffer more than 30,000 serious knee injuries per year. The number of injuries in recreational sports is even greater.
The reason why more women seem to tear their ACL during ovulation is still a mystery to researchers. More studies will have to be done to determine why more tears occur during ovulation other than the two other stages, Spindler said.
This article i read told me more about research done over the effects of the menstrual cycle on tearing your acl. i got alot of simple information from this one