A study in American Journal of Sports Medicine found that young athletes who play football and soccer sustain the most anterior cruciate ligament tears — though risk and incidence vary by gender.
The researchers conducted a comprehensive literature review of studies concerning ACL tears in high school athletes, which they used to identify 10 articles for analysis; these articles included a total of 700 ACL injuries. The researchers investigated the incidence and yearly risk of ACL tear by sex and sport, for all sports performed at the varsity level.
Here's what you need to know:
1. The overall incidence rate for ACL injury was 0.062 injuries per 1,000 exposures; relative risk was highest in basketball and soccer.
2. There was around a 1.6 times greater rate of ACL injury per athletic exposure in female athletes than in male athletes.
3. The sport with the highest number of ACL injuries was boys' football; the sport with the highest incidence rate of ACL injuries was girls' soccer.
4. The sports with the highest risk of ACL injury for male athletes were football (0.80 percent), lacrosse (0.44 percent) and soccer (0.30 percent).
5. The sports with the highest risk of ACL injury for female athletes were soccer (1.11 percent), basketball (0.88 percent) and lacrosse (0.53 percent).
The researchers concluded: "Knowledge of sport-specific risk is essential for future injury reduction programs, parent-athlete decision making, and accurate physician counseling."