Thursday, July 21, 2011

How's your cruciate?

pic from balls.ie
Non-sporting types would probably give that post-title a skip. But if you're like me, every twinge and ache gets examined before that big sigh of relief; oh, it's just a sprain, nothing serious. Until the big ones fall apart and then you know all about it.

So far, *touches wood* my knees are in one piece. But cruciate ligament injuries are becoming so prevalent here in Ireland, one national association, the GAA, is setting up a project to guinea-pig 30 players in an effort to find the perfect warm-up. One sports journalist said last week that a winning ladies gaelic football team - from my own county of Cork - has had 15 players out with cruciate injuries since 2005. That's half the team.

This article in one of the Irish papers a few days ago said it's a far more common injury for women than men. And the worrying thing is the experts quoted don't really seem to know why it's an increasing problem. When you talk to older athletes - in their 60s - they say it was a rare injury 'back in the day' so we're doing something wrong. Or maybe just recognising something that was accepted back then?

Dr Pat Duggan from the sports organisation is quoted in the article saying: “It may be that modern players are so phenomenally conditioned from the hips up that when they land on one leg, like in football, the power going through their leg is a lot greater than it was say 10 years ago.” But shouldn't the legs be stronger too - or is the weights-room to blame?

What's the worst injury you've had? 


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2 comments

Anonymous said...

Tore my medial and lateral cruciate ligaments in my left knee last summer (playing soccer) and you can bet I don't ignore the warning signs anymore. Gar. I found that cycling hills is by far the best PT for me and it has made a huge difference in recovery.

Not the worst injury I ever had, but scary none the less.

niamh said...

@Titanium - ouch. Really? I'm surprised you have such a serious injury with the level of sports going on at your blog. My physio is trying to convince me to give up running in favour of cycling - preventative ;) Good luck with the recovery, sounds like it's coming along well.

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