I read an article in the NY times today https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/magazine/acl-tear-women-girl-sports.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share . The article indicated that teen girls are more likely to tear their ACL’s due to anatomical differences and their phase of their menstrual cycle as compared to teenage males. This caused me to have some skepticism. As is the norm in most NY times articles there are no citations. The article goes on to state certain exercises can reduce this risk substantially. My questions are two fold. Is there any accuracy to the claim of increased ACL injuries because of either anatomy or menstrual cycle. If true, is there some sort of training that would reduce the chance of an ACL type injury as is claimed in the article?
There’s a saying, “A lie travels with wings, a truth by foot.” Kind of annoying that the NYT can just “say things” without supporting the claims. I guess that happens all the time.
The evidence for anatomical causes (the Q angle) is not supported by research. While women have higher rates of ACL injury than men - thus spawning this anatomical theory - there’s no real difference in the Q angles of women who do tear their ACL vs women who don’t.
The menstrual cycle theory is also not supported by evidence, based mostly on mechanistic hypotheses related to laxity vs real outcomes.
Yes, exercise can reduce risk of injury mainly via increased strength.
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