A quarter of all top football players nominated for the Ballon d’Or last year are at home due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury. How is this possible? NOS Sport tackles this issue in a series of three stories. Today Part 1: How is this possible?
Orange’s all-time top scorer Vivianne Miedema will definitely miss the July World Cup. Arsenal’s striker fell to the ground in December with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. His partner and Arsenal colleague, Beth Mead, was already at home with the same injury at the time.
Just like PSG forward Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Lyon player Catarina Macario and FC Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas.
What do they have in common outside of football? Last year, they were among the last twenty players to have a chance to win the honorary title of Footballer of the Year, an award that was eventually awarded to the Putellas.
How is it possible that a quarter of them are injured at home?
“We actually have more questions than answers right now,” says researcher Alli Gökeler from AmsterdamUMC. He has been dealing with anterior cruciate ligament injuries for two decades: mechanisms, prevention and rehabilitation.
Gökeler studied anterior cruciate ligament injuries in top female athletes using a variety of studies. These studies have uncovered all sorts of factors, such as the unique shape of a woman’s body and the role of hormones, but there is still no conclusive evidence of a cause.
Cruciate ligament tears are more common in women than men.
What Gökeler does know is that women without physical contact are twice as likely to rupture a cruciate ligament as men.
So it’s not a kick in the knee. But for a tear caused by an incorrect leg position that puts too much force on the tires.
Gökeler says it takes nine to 12 months to recover from surgery, although both male and female professionals often return sooner with all the risks that come with it. A quarter later, the cruciate ligament is torn again, this rate is eighteen percent in men. Therefore, it is a costly injury for both the club and the player himself.
The anterior cruciate ligament has also attracted the attention of UEFA, the governing body of European football. Swedish orthopedic surgeon and UEFA’s medical adviser, Markus Waldén, will explain the results of UEFA’s first women’s soccer injury study.
In contrast, 80 to 90 UEFA studies have been published on male football players, he says.
Since 2018, Waldén has been collecting data on injured players in collaboration with twelve of the top clubs including Ajax, Manchester City, Olympique Lyonnais, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan. Analysis of data up to 2021 shows an average of 0.75 ACL injuries per women’s team per season.
He says this number has been stable for four years and is consistent with previous research on top football players in Scandinavia.
What is striking is that, according to Waldén: “The number of anterior cruciate ligament injuries is twice as high in women as in men.” In fact, one-third (!) of all professional football professionals currently have cruciate ligament tears. Think Norwegian star actress Ada Hegerberg, American Megan Rapinoe or Orange actress Daniëlle van de Donk.
It’s like it’s just a part of it.
UEFA researcher Waldén said: “Statistically, this could be a coincidence. However, the role of coaches, accumulated fatigue, number of matches, etc. “We still do not have any data to explain this phenomenon,” he said.
What happened in Miedema?
Researcher Gökeler, at our request, looked at the moment when Miedema tore his cruciate ligament in the Arsenal-Lyon match.
Check out the snippet below. Vivianne Miedema wears the number 11 jersey.
Gökeler said, “It’s a pretty harmless fight for the ball. “Miedema seems to be waiting for the ball to go somewhere else, which means she has lost her balance.” “This is the purpose of the trick. The other has to react quickly to a change of direction, and that involves risks.”
He sees Miedema shift his entire movement from left to right in two-tenths of a second. It is accompanied by a lack of coordination, a cognitive error, an error in the control of the brain.
“In our study of male football players with ACL injuries in Italy, the time from mistake to rupture of the ACL was 0.25 seconds.” This is less than a blink of an eye.
A cognitive error can result in injury to Miedema. But Gokeler says: “Mood can also play a role. For example, fatigue or stress, because they affect our ability to react.”
Is it just bad luck or the player himself?
Gökeler, as well as his Swedish colleague Waldén, advocate for much more individual-focused research. “What hurts Miedema and not a player of equal status? Is it just bad luck or is it player specific?”
All the doctors we spoke to agree that an ACL tear is a serious and prolonged injury that takes a lot out of you mentally.
Because women are particularly at risk, researchers and sports physicians are calling for more gender-specific research.
What’s next after this World Cup?
In any case, the Netherlands will have to make do without Miedema, the top scorer at the World Cup this summer, and England without Mead. With some luck, Putellas could be reused for Spain. Like Macario for the United States and Katoto for France, they will all be well over a year by then.
Next episode: Tuesday, February 21, about increased game time for players and the risks from lack of rest.
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Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
