By: David Yang
Megan Rapinoe, an American soccer player, has announced her retirement at the end of the 2023 World Cup. She has a history of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. While training in Hawaii for a match that was part of the U.S. tour after winning the Women’s World Cup in 2015, she tore her ACL for the third time. She understood crystal clear that she wouldn’t be playing for the next nine to twelve months due to her recovery schedule.
Studies show females are two to eight times more likely than male athletes to tear an ACL. The ACL is one of the most vital bands of tissue that help connect our thigh bone (femur) to the shinbone (tibia). It typically occurs during intense exercises or sports, such as soccer, basketball, football, and downhill skiing. People might feel a popping feeling in the knee when an ACL injury occurs. Then, they would feel unstable sometimes and it would even become too painful to withstand their own weight.
Since 2021, at least 87 players from eight of the world’s top women’s soccer teams have torn their ACLs. Some of them include the sport’s biggest stars, such as U.S. attacker Catarina Macario, Dutch star Vivianne Miedema, and the English duo, Beth Mead and Leah Williamson, all missed the 2023 World Cup because of injury. The recent wave is just further proof of an ongoing issue that has no simple solution. The ACL crisis is a particular challenge for women’s sports. People are intrigued by why women are at a higher risk for the injury than men. Scientists show women often have less muscle mass around the knee, contributing to more instability, which can lead to a ligament tear if the ligament gets overstretched.
Claire Rafferty, a former England soccer player, suffered an ACL injury when she was only 16. When she finally recovered, she thought it would be smooth sailing from there. She didn’t know players who have experienced the injury would have a higher risk of tearing their knee again. In 2011, she tore the ACL in her right knee again. She was shocked when it happened and wanted to keep on playing by trying to reduce the pain, but her coach refused to let her play. Two years later, Rafferty tore the ACL in her right knee a third time. “Nobody thought you could come back from three ACLs then,” she said. She later came back mentally. “I thought every game could be my last. I was playing with a lot of fear. I had quite a lot of anxiety. I couldn’t play like I did before.”
She experienced the fear felt by the players when missing the World Cup and the unsafe feeling when out on the field. At that time she was 30, and she knew she had to walk away from the sport. For her, she wouldn’t have another ACL injury. But for other players, there is still a huge possibility of tearing their ACLs and ending their careers.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/sports/soccer/womens-world-cup-soccer-torn-acl.html