The Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse team has already had three knee injuries this season where there was no contact with another player. These non contact injuries are happening frequently on turf fields around the area.
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Maddie Mustion: Despite beating every team thus far, Syracuse has been losing to a different opponent. ACL tears. First Abigail Lagos went down, then Kate mashewske, and the latest, Bianca Cheverie. But what causes this injury to happen so frequently? Justine Zinc, a physical therapist says that this injury happens when the ACL ligament behind the kneecap stretches too much.
Justine Zinc: So if I pull this model back, this ligament right here is your ACL and it runs from the back part of the femur to the front part of the tibia. When that tears, it is typically because you have an anterior or a front translation of your tibia or the bottom knee bone here forward, which pushes that on stretch and that can cause a partial or a full tear.”
Mustion: While ACL tears are prevalent at the college level, these injuries also happen at the high school level. Kaitlyn Petryszyn, athletic trainer at Christian brother’s academy, sees a lot of these injuries with their student athletes.
Kaitlyn Petryszyn: But the non-contact one, that’s a lot of planting and cutting, which is really common, especially with non-contact, specifically with women’s soccer. We’ve been seeing a lot of that just planning and cutting and turning direction. Mostly it’s also environmental related. So it was cold. It was really raining that night as well. So it’s slippery.”
Mustion: Since the turf fields are more slippery than grass, especially when there’s weather involved. The movements of these players are to causes ACL to stretch a tear, you know, when there’s no contact with other players involved.
Zinc: A lot of ACL tears can be contact, but it can be non-contact as well. It really depends on the person’s anatomy, the mechanism of injury, but a lot of cutting, pivoting or even running in a straight line can cause that to happen.”
Mustion: Although turf fields create non ideal conditions for the athletes, many schools are installing turf because of the easy upkeep.
Pertryszyn: “Play on turf nowadays. A lot of high schools have turf just because it’s more convenient.”
Mustion: With these injuries happening more often, Petryszyn says that they are having to work harder in the off season to teach these student athletes how to properly land on turf fields to prevent the stress on their ACLs.
Pertryszyn: Yeah, during the off season we like to focus really on strength and landing mechanics is huge, especially with, you know, soccer, basketball, football, any type of cut and pivot movement where we see ACLs happening more often on turf or on regular grass or hardwood floor.”
Mustion: With high schools implementing preventative measures early, future college athletes could have healthier…… longer careers on turf fields. In Syracuse, Maddie Mustion, NCC News
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse team has remained undefeated in their season thus far, but they have been impacted heavily by injuries. These aren’t injuries that are happening because of a dangerous play or even contact with another player, but because of landing wrong on turf fields.
The ACL is a ligament behind the knee that bonds the back part of the femur to the front part of the tibia. This ligament is in charge of a lot of the movement that happens with the knee joint and when it tears, it can take athletes out of their sport for numerous months.
ACL tears are prevalent in sport, but athletic trainers and players are seeing these types of injuries happening at a higher rate on turf fields where players plant their foot wrong and slip. Physical therapist at Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists, Justine Zink, said that the way these athletes are moving is stretching the ACL.
A lot of ACL tears can be contact, but it can be non-contact as well. It really depends on the person’s anatomy, the mechanism of injury, but a lot of cutting, pivoting or even running in a straight line can cause that to happen,” said Zink.
The problem that is causing a lot of these ACLs to tear is the hyper extension and stretching of the ACL ligament. Athletic trainer at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, Kaitlyn Pertryszyn, said that she sees these injuries happening because of improper planting on a slippery field.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of that just planning and cutting and turning direction. Mostly it’s also environmental related, so it was cold. it was really raining that night as well, so it’s slippery,” said Petryszyn.
The turf fields also are slippery when they are not wet because of the lack of grip that the artificial grass and rubber pellets provide. This, paired with the improper planting and pivoting that athletes are doing, causes a hyper extension of the ACL and injures it.
Athletic trainers are taking action and trying to prevent these injuries in athletes. At Christian Brothers Academy, the preventative work allows trainers to strengthen the athletes muscles and teach them the proper way to move.
“During the off season we like to focus really on strength and landing mechanics, especially with soccer, basketball, football, any type of cut and pivot movement where we see ACLs happening more often on turf or on regular grass or hardwood floor,” said Petryszyn.
With these new preventative measures and exercises being implemented in high school, future college athletes may be able to have fewer injuries in the future.