Dear Editor-in-Chief
Soccer is a high-intensity sport due to the nature of physical contact between players over the 90 minutes of the game, and can be divided into acute damage caused by contact and non-contact, and chronic damage caused by overuse due to repetitive training (1). Soccer injuries are most commonly followed by the ankle joint and knee joint, with 80,000 to 250,000 cases are anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries occurring annually (2, 3). In particular, ACL injuries are mostly non-contact and are reported to be four to eight times more common in female than male in soccer (4). Injury to the ACL of the knee joint is immediately disabling and has serious sequelae (5), and rehabilitation can be time-consuming, resulting in a severe limitation of knee joint function and a decrease in sporting activity.
The rate of ACL surgery in female athletes is reported to be 70%, five times higher than that of male athletes (6). The cost of surgery is also significant, with the cost of surgery and rehabilitation for each ACL injury reaching approximately 25,000 USD per year, and the cost of surgery and rehabilitation for female soccer players alone is reported to be 100 million USD per year (7, 8). This damage can lead to missed games, can be problematic for the maintenance and improvement of an athlete’s personal performance, and, most importantly, can be a major problem for their career.
Therefore, analyzing the differences in the frequency and severity of injuries in female soccer players by position and the degree of physical contact required, as well as the risk factors for injuries due to overuse, is essential to reduce the prevalence of injuries by improving training methods and improving the environment for individual players and the team as a whole. From this perspective, it is expected that analyzing the mechanisms, types of injury, and treatment modalities associated with ACL injury in female soccer players and proposing a prevention program will be of great benefit to the injury management and athletic performance of female soccer players.
Footnotes
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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