Abstract
Football is a popular sport and it is estimated that women make up 22% of the 200 million players worldwide. The rate of injuries seen in women's football is similar to that in men's; ankle sprains making up most of the injuries in both sexes. However, there are some important sex specific injury patterns; in particular women are more likely to sustain an anterior cruciate ligament injury than men. Since this is an injury with major short term and long term implications the factors that might be responsible for the gender disparities have received attention. These include anatomical differences such as Q angle, neuromuscular characteristics (muscle imbalance), joint laxity and proprioception, and hormonal influences. Despite intense research fundamental questions remain unanswered so that, as yet, appropriately focussed measures to reduce the incidence of ACL injuries in women cannot be taken.
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