Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you, everyone. We are not a sporty family and DD is still in a pre travel league (but aging out) so I haven’t heard this discussed at all. Go to know.

I’m having trouble understanding how common this is on a local travel level. How can I put the risk into perspective? Are most parents as concerned with this as with concussion? I may be totally wrong but for some reason I feel like with a single concussion I might have time to react and pull her, while with ACL once it happens it’s done. Am I misunderstanding?

Appreciate the responses so far.

I have a daughter playing in college. She has experienced both an ACL tear and at least one concussion. Through her youth career, she has seen probably a dozen or so players she knows suffer torn ACL's across multiple teams. On her ECNL team, there were 3 over the half dozen years in that league. In our experience concussions were probably twice as prevalent, at least ones that were diagnosed. In college there have been three in the past two years. All anecdotal at best but the higher the level of soccer, the more stress involved with all of the joints however there is an aspect of overall fitness that may be moderating that slightly. I would expect a lower incidence rate for say NCSL.
Concussions are obviously more recoverable than ACL tears with most players being able to handle at least a couple before concerns about leaving the sport come up. That's a generalization of course since it depends on the severity and the athlete's response. For some, one severe one is enough.

Anonymous wrote:Is there a rise in ACL injuries specific to girls soccer, or is the same thing happening with boys soccer?

Girls.

Knee injuries and concussions (weaker neck strength) are way more (statistically) common in girl players.

Studies show female athletes are two to eight times as likely as male athletes to tear an ACL, one of the bands of tissue that connect the femur and tibia at the knee. Since 2021, at least 87 players from eight of the world's top women's soccer leagues have torn their ACLs.

Why do girls have more ACL injuries than boys in soccer?
Women's joints — including the knee — generally have more looseness and range of motion than men's. Women also often have less muscle mass around the knee, contributing to more instability, which can lead to a ligament tear if the ligament gets overstretched. Technique plays a role too.

Parents will go to endless lengths to maximize sat scores, facilitate extracurriculars, on and on. Not crazy to think they might want to do more to prevent teenage knee surgeries than just follow a coach in a pay-to-play system… the question is what makes sense

“Taskforce” just means some entity keeping track of best practices, sharing resources on local physical therapists, talking about turf options, trialing new footwear…sharing info. Just because this affects girls so much more than boys doesn’t mean it needs to be a foregone conclusion

I make a real effort to search for and purchase Artificial Grass (AG) cleats because my kids play mostly on artificial grass fields.

Apparently, there is some evidence to support the idea that cleats made for Firm Ground (FG) (i.e., grass) have stud shapes that may provide TOO MUCH grip when used on artificial grass fields.

Many of the major brands have tried to create hybrid "FG/AG" cleats, which is what you usually find the most of; the theory is that it supposedly has stud shapes made for both (and also apparently due to the higher heat generated on artificial grass fields, there is also some tweak they make to account for that in terms of durability). But when you think about it, this FG/AG cleat does not really address the potential increased injury risk that comes with using FG boots on AG fields, because the FG/AG cleats still have at least some of the stud patterns that work well on FG but are potentially more dangerous on AG.

So you really want to try to find a dedicated pair of pure "AG" cleats for your kid. Sometimes I can find them here, sometimes I've had to order them from Europe. But I have opted for the "less grippy" pure AG cleats in the hopes that it reduces the injury risk.

This video explains it better than I did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkmcg7ET8j4

You have to set those boundaries early for kids. Some will try to play through, but once they see that the parent absolutely means no playing through minor or major injuries, they are more likely to communicate how their bodies actually feel. If they see you do not care about the coach/team/parents' opinion but their health comes first and act on that, they will speak up more readily.

All sports carry a degree of injury, and there is no way to prevent all of them. However, you can attempt to reduce the likelihood of injury. That is the best option outside of stopping the activity altogether. So, proper rest, nutrition, and injury prevention.

As a side note, I personally believe for team-based field games (field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, etc.), turf fields are doing a ton of damage. Long hours of practice and games on those fields seem to be a major problem to me.

Pretty soon ACL repairs will be like the baseball pitchers and Tommy John surgery. They get that surgery as a preventative measure now before they really even need it. Pitchers know for most it's not if, but when their arm will blow out.

Anonymous wrote:This is on the list for why I hate the current version of youth sports. I can’t tell you the number of middle school girls I see walking around with knee or ankle braces, boots, k-tape or wraps holding them together. They look like beat up 40 somethings, not prepubescent kids. And I don’t think the clubs really care — they can just replace injured kids. So safety gets lip service at best. I know so many kids who have had ACL or rotator cuff or tommy John surgery as teens. I wonder how their bodies are going to hold up when they are middle aged.

And kids absolutely do play through injuries no matter what their parents say—I’ve had so many conversations with my kids about this but they just ignore me. They don’t want to let down their team. They are all Kerri Strugg-ing it.

Way back when, my kid moved from bench player to starter then the girl who plays her position got a bad ankle sprain and she's never given it back. Even if coaches say you don't lose your spot to injury, they are lying and the kids know it.

This is on the list for why I hate the current version of youth sports. I can’t tell you the number of middle school girls I see walking around with knee or ankle braces, boots, k-tape or wraps holding them together. They look like beat up 40 somethings, not prepubescent kids. And I don’t think the clubs really care — they can just replace injured kids. So safety gets lip service at best. I know so many kids who have had ACL or rotator cuff or tommy John surgery as teens. I wonder how their bodies are going to hold up when they are middle aged.

And kids absolutely do play through injuries no matter what their parents say—I’ve had so many conversations with my kids about this but they just ignore me. They don’t want to let down their team. They are all Kerri Strugg-ing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would this task force do exactly? This is a known problem with no great solutions.

Taskforce? Taking a risk every time you lace up, stop trying to legislate everything. Helicopter parenting to the max with this thread

There is nothing wrong with seeking information and targeted training to promote awareness and possible prevention of these injuries. Why shouldn’t this be important?

Maybe a task force is not necessary but parents should be aware that clubs do not provide the proper warmup and cooldown and stretching awareness that kids need. It should be from the littlest players that these habits of proper warmup and cooldowns and stretching AND especially doing these exercises properly with proper form.

These are the sort of habits that can prevent a lot of injuries that can become chronic such as pulled muscles and rolled ankles.

My kids have these habits but that’s bc we as parents instilled it in them.

There can def be more specific strengthening workouts that can be assigned as daily homework for girls as well to prevent common injuries.

I think all it takes is a parent to suggest it and perhaps someone can find a YouTube video to send to a team. It doesn’t have to me complicated

Stretching will not prevent an ACL tear.

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing wrong with seeking information and targeted training to promote awareness and possible prevention of these injuries. Why shouldn’t this be important?

As PP noted, there are so many ways to do this short of setting up a task force.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would this task force do exactly? This is a known problem with no great solutions.

Taskforce? Taking a risk every time you lace up, stop trying to legislate everything. Helicopter parenting to the max with this thread

There is nothing wrong with seeking information and targeted training to promote awareness and possible prevention of these injuries. Why shouldn’t this be important?

Maybe a task force is not necessary but parents should be aware that clubs do not provide the proper warmup and cooldown and stretching awareness that kids need. It should be from the littlest players that these habits of proper warmup and cooldowns and stretching AND especially doing these exercises properly with proper form.

These are the sort of habits that can prevent a lot of injuries that can become chronic such as pulled muscles and rolled ankles.

My kids have these habits but that’s bc we as parents instilled it in them.

There can def be more specific strengthening workouts that can be assigned as daily homework for girls as well to prevent common injuries.

I think all it takes is a parent to suggest it and perhaps someone can find a YouTube video to send to a team. It doesn’t have to me complicated

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What would this task force do exactly? This is a known problem with no great solutions.

Taskforce? Taking a risk every time you lace up, stop trying to legislate everything. Helicopter parenting to the max with this thread

There is nothing wrong with seeking information and targeted training to promote awareness and possible prevention of these injuries. Why shouldn’t this be important?

Is there a rise in ACL injuries specific to girls soccer, or is the same thing happening with boys soccer?

It’s an injury risk like a broken or a concussion.