| ■ Girls More Likely to Suffer Severe Knee Injuries | 2008.05.27 |
| Boys suffer more sports-related knee injuries than girls, but girls are more likely to suffer more severe injuries, says a U.S. study that looked at 1,383 knee injuries at 100 high schools during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years. Of those injuries, 1,023 occurred in boys and 380 occurred in girls. Boys spent an average of less than one week recovering and 12 percent of their injuries required surgery. Girls spent an average of more than three weeks recovering and 25 percent of their injuries required surgery, CBC News reported. Girls were twice as likely to suffer knee injuries caused by bad landings, jumping and pivoting, rather than through contact with other players, said the study, which will appear in the June issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine. The researchers said girls' increased risk of these types of knee injuries may be due to "a number of risk factors, including neuromuscular, hormonal, and mechanical differences," CBC News reported. |