Participant Place Influences Threat of ACL Tear within the NFL

National Football League (NFL) athletes who play large receiver or tight finish could have a better threat of struggling an harm to their anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, based on a brand new research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

A tear within the ACL is a big and painful knee harm. Treatment sometimes requires surgical procedure and no less than 9 months of restoration, and even then, some gamers by no means return to the sphere.

“An ACL tear can have major physical, mental and economic impacts to the player,” research creator Clayton Nuelle stated. “These are significant injuries that require prolonged rehabilitation, so it’s important to determine risk factors and identify any ways to potentially prevent future injury.”

Wide receivers and tight ends usually carry out fast change of route actions and are concerned in high-speed tackles and collisions, which probably will increase the danger for ACL harm.

“The ACL helps stabilize and prevent excessive rotation within the knee,” Nuelle stated. “A tear can occur when the knee is bent awkwardly during a tackle, or during ‘non-contact’ movements, when the athlete plants and pushes off or pivots, putting the ligament under severe stress.”

The research additionally examined different elements that might contribute to an ACL harm, taking a look at 520 tears over a ten-year interval within the NFL, from the 2012-13 season to the 2022-23 season. 245 tears (47%) have been attributable to a contact harm mechanism, which suggests the participant had bodily contact with one other particular person or object. A 3rd of tears have been attributable to non-contact mechanisms, like touchdown from a bounce.

Despite previous analysis concluding in any other case, this research didn’t discover any important variations in ACL tears sustained on pure grass in comparison with synthetic turf. Turf is normally extra inflexible than grass, which may trigger stress on the physique’s joints and improve the possibility of harm. This discovering could also be an indication of change.

“Older studies found a higher incidence of injuries on artificial turf, when it was lower quality,” Nuelle stated. “Since then, the quality, structure and composition of turf fields has improved, which may explain why this current study did not find a meaningful difference. Future research should continue to examine various injury rates, patterns and the overall safety profile.”

The analysis additionally discovered that an ACL tear was extra more likely to occur originally of the soccer season and through a sport versus a follow, with 291 tears occurring earlier than week 9 and solely 168 tears sustained throughout follow, in comparison with 352 whereas in-game.

Clayton Nuelle, MD is an orthopaedic surgeon and sports activities medication physician at MU Health Care, and an affiliate professor of orthopaedic surgical procedure on the Mizzou School of Medicine. He additionally serves as the top crew physician for Mizzou Athletics and straight takes care of the Mizzou soccer, soccer, swimming and diving and tennis groups.

“Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in National Football League Players from 2012 to 2022: A Descriptive Epidemiology Study” was lately revealed within the Journal of Knee Surgery. In addition to Nuelle, Mizzou research authors embody medical college students Ashwin Garlapaty, Morgan Kluge and Quin Blankenship; surgical residents Rown Parola and Abdoulie Njai; James Stannard, MD, PhD, orthopaedic surgeon at MU Health Care and Medical Director of the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute; scientific analysis fellow Caleb Bischoff, DO; James L. Cook, DVM, PhD, OTSC, Vice Chair of Orthopaedic Research and Director of Operations & Research on the Joint and Limb Preservation Center; and Steven DeFroda, MD, orthopaedic surgeon and affiliate professor of orthopaedic surgical procedure.