Women suffer on average, 4 to 6 times more ACL injuries then men. The majority of which are of non-contact origins. These tend to occurred from abrupt stopping, sharp cuts (turning), landing and pivoting, etc. In short, these injuries occur because of improper body mechanics that stem from a number of potential areas. The included:

1. Hormonal differences
2. Anatomical Differences
3. Neuromuscular weaknesses.

Hormonally, female sex hormones cause ligaments to become laxed or lose in certain cases. Good for child birth, but terrible for joints. Debates still wage on whether this laxicity increases injury prevalence or not. Women also tend to have a much lower tensile strength of ligaments than men do. A man and women of equal size would place the same amount of stress on a particular joint and ligament performing the same movements, however, this anatomical difference creates problems that may lead to injury. The hormonal and anatomical factors are all but unavoidable. However, neuromuscular weakness can be addressed with a proper strengthening program. But before we get to that, let's take a closer look at the ligaments of the knew and figure out what this "ACL" thing is and why it causes so many problems.

The ACL is short for Anterior Cruciate Ligament. Anterior refers to it's placement on the anterior side of the tibia. It works in conjunction with the posterior cruciate ligament to keep the horizontal displacement of the knee stable. In other words, so your thigh doesn't slide off the top of your shins. It is also involved with preventing hyperextension of the knee joint.

Neuromuscular faults lie in two basic areas, the first being that hamstring activation is delayed during knee extension in eccentric knee flexion. In real world terms this could be comparable to jumping and landing. Females tend to rely heavily on quadriceps much more than their hamstrings when compared to men. This is important because the hamstrings are dynamic supporters of the ACL as they cross both the hip and knee join which provides stability to the area between these two joints.

Secondly, in numerous situations, Women tend to put themselves in an excessive valgus position by allowing greater internal rotation of the hip than is recommended. This is seen in just about an posture, exercise or activity that require one to apply force through hip and knee extension (Squat, Leg Press, Jumping, Landing, etc.). It is also important to know that rotation of the Fibula and Tibia about the femur is only possible when the knee is bent.

For example, if you were to straighten out your knee and point your toes up and try to rotate your foot from the left to right, you would find that you have to actually rotate your entire leg. Where as if you bend your knee and try the same thing, the lower portion of your leg has a bit more freedom to move. This coupled with the improper mechanics of the excessive Valgus position, especially under a load, is a situation waiting for an ACL tear!