FIFA funded study to research potential link between ACL tears and a woman’s monthly period: HealthLink
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SEATTLE — It’s a common injury that athletes endure, and it’s among the most dreaded.
ACL tears affect about one in 3,500 people a year in the U.S., with some studies showing women are more at risk.
Women athletes are also noticing an interesting coincidence.
Seattle athletes Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe recently brought it up in their podcast, “A Touch More.”
This is why funding medical research matters, because then we can really answer these questions,” said Dr. Cindy Lin, a clinical professor of sports and spine medicine at UW Medical Center.
Dr. Lin explained ACL is short for “anterior cruciate ligament” — a rope-like ligament that crosses the center of the knee.
“It helps us to keep that knee stable during activities such as running, jumping, pivoting, or change of direction activities, just like soccer, basketball, or playing tennis. But when that rope, um, the ACL tears, it can lead to an unstable knee,” Lin said.
Such an injury could bench an athlete for months or even a year to fully recover and return to the court or the field. But whether the risk of getting one is at all linked to a woman’s monthly period still needs to be confirmed.
“ACL tears are very multi-factorial, meaning that it was a combination of other factors happening during play, and that’s why it’s so important that they’re going to study this,” Lin said.
FIFA is funding a study in the U.K., based out of Kingston University, where researchers will study blood samples from female soccer players during various times of their cycle.
Until there are results, Dr. Lin points to what medical circles do know.
“Specifically what’s happening is that there’s an increase in estrogen around the time of ovulation, which is when the egg is released, and that’s believed to be associated with increased looseness of that ligament, right, that looseness of that rope that is strong across the center of our knee, and that might be what’s increasing the risk of ACL tears,” Lin said.
Getting a better sense of whether hormones influence a woman’s injury risk could help cue an athlete on when to go hard while training or playing and when to take it a little easier.
“Part of their hope is that by identifying whether there are certain parts of the menstrual cycle that are related to increased injury risk, then we can really start tailoring and individualizing it, right?” Lin noted.
The Kingston University study is set to launch this June.