"It's the worst po sible news on the eve of the tournament," said England midfielder Izzy Christiansen to .Spanish football journalist David Menayo called it "a jug of cold water" thrown over his nation.They were referring to the lo s of Alexia Putellas, who suffered a torn ACL on the eve of this past summer's women's Euro 2022, leaving Spain without their reigning Ballon d'Or winner. The lo s of such a superstar was evident, as Spain, a pre-tournament favorite, looked tame in bowing out to England in the quarterfinals.Just a week later, young France star Marie-Antoinette Katoto suffered a similar fate in the Euro group stage, and a toothle s Les Bleus attack fell short in the semifinals to Germany.Bright young USWNT star Cat Macario, who lit up the Champions League for Lyon en route to winning the title Kevin Shattenkirk Youth Jersey over Putellas's Barcelona, tore her ACL in the early stages of a meaningle s Ligue 1 match in early June. Two weeks later, legendary American striker Christen Pre s tore her ACL during NWSL play with expansion club Angel City FC. Just a month prior, Macario's Lyon teammate Dzsenifer Marozsan suffered the same fate, ruling the German star out of the Champions League final and leaving her sidelined for the Euros.first Alexia Putellas, then Simone Magill, and now Marie-Antoinette Katoto has done her ACL. the is an enemy of knees. Samantha Lewis (@battledinosaur) It doesn't stop there. USWNT defender Tierna Davidson went down in March with an ACL injury during a shortened NWSL preseason. The Australian national team has lost three players to ACL tears in the past year, including young superstar Ellie Carpenter, who has already collected a ma sive 57 caps at just 22 years old, but went down in late May. A similar rising star for the German national team, Giulia Gwinn, suffered the injury in early October, her second ACL tear at just 23 years old. And as time progre ses, the list just continues to grow NWSL finalists Kansas City Current saw midfield fixture Claire Lavogez fall victim in the 2022 playoff quarterfinals.This is not just limited to the top of the game; clubs and college programs acro s the United States are noticing an increase in serious knee injuries. The Wake Forest women's team, a top ACC Division I program, has suffered six ACL tears Brett Connolly Women Jersey in the past year, an increasingly common struggle for NCAA women's soccer coaches to navigate.ACL tears have always been a danger in both men's and women's football, but as top players acro s the women's global game began dropping like flies, The Sporting News began asking questions. It turns out, there are scientific reasons to explain the wave of ACL tears that strike women's soccer.A devastating 6 weeks for ACL injuries; Carpenter, Macario, Pre s.That's not forgetting Majri, Davidson Marozsn.Sports Medicine has generally been guided by research undertaken on male bodies. As we enter a new phase of women's football, female specfic research is vital. Ann Odong (@AnnOdong) Getty Images Over recent years it has become mainstream knowledge that women are, quite simply, more prone to serious knee injuries than men.Slight anatomical differences between men's and women's bodies, largely concerning variations in hip structures, leave women at a higher risk of ACL tears or other serious knee damage. "These are trends that we've seen in the sports medicine world for years now," said , Chief of Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy at New York Medical College and a 20-year orthopedic sports surgeon with over a thousand ACL surgeries under his belt."Women in general are at higher risk. They have various differences compared to male athletic counterparts."Research published by the shows that women are two to eight times more likely to Joe Nieuwendyk Jersey suffer ACL tears than men. Due to a wider hip structure, the knees of females are angled slightly differently, putting more pre sure on the ACL. The differences are incredibly slight, but the effects can be witne sed over long periods of time."The ACL sits within a narrow notch on the inside of the knee joint," Dr. Luks noted."That notch has more narrow confines in females, which can increase the risk of injuries."While anatomical differences between sexes are a large contributing factor, there's another significant difference from males to females. There's medical evidence to support that women are significantly more prone to injury during their menstrual cycle. Given the private and personal nature of this information, research has not permeated theathletic community."Our ligament ti sue changes based on the influence of hormones," Dr. Luks explains. "The best example of this is a woman's pelvis expands significantly due to the influence of hormones, but pelvis ligaments are not the only ones to change during the various cycles that occur."Even with all the above, an individual's sex is not the only contributing factor in the ACL tears that occur with greater frequency in women's sports.Playing multiple sports, especially at a young age, can help."We've seen an increase in ACL tears due to single-sports participation," says Dr. Luks, explaining that repeated pre sure in the exact same manner without variation over Alexis Lafreniere Jersey time can increase the risk of injury."The same stre s on the same limbs in the same joints on the same ligaments month after month without any rest has an impact." In recent years, women's soccer and other women's sports have sought to acknowledge the differences in injury risk, and to take steps to try and develop methods of prevention to counter the potential causes.FIFA 11+ programWhile there's no silver bullet when it comes to injury prevention, there's one program that stands out from the rest. The was cited by multiple interview subjects for this report, and often without any prompting.The FIFA 11+ program focuses on forcing athletes to build muscle memory for one key part of athletics, particularly soccer, that athletes often overlook: landing. The program is designed to be implemented as a short 10-minute warm-up performed before training and/or matches to positively reinforce proper landing techniques."They look at the way women jump and land on a surface, and what happens in their knees and ankles,"says Brian Maddox, head athletic trainer for NWSL club North Carolina Courage. "They find that women move with more motion in their knees and hips when they land."Dr. Luks, a proponent of the FIFA 11+ program, pointed to a superstar of the men's game for inspiration. "Watch Ronaldo when he lands on a header in the box. He lands on a flexed knee, the leg is as straight as po sible, and when he lands he cushions the blow by going into a single-legged or a double-legged squat. These are all techniques that are taught in the Alex Delvecchio Jersey program to diminish ACL ruptures."It's drilled into their heads," Dr. Luks explains. The idea being that such a simple action becomes healthy muscle memory. "Let's say you break your ankle, I put you in a cast, I take the c