We're all equal....? at 11:27

 

Last night my favorite pup did something to her knee- as of right now hopefully its a tweak;however there is a possibility she tore her ligament.  I'm not any type of anatomy guru, and I'm not trying to relate a dog's knee to a human's knee, but the accident did surface a question I've always had.   I remember in high school my coaches always making sure we were "properly" conditioned to prevent knee injuries. They claimed women had to work harder than men to prevent this devastating injury which can ruin a career.  So my question is: do women truthfully have weaker knees than men?

  

The most dreaded knee injury is an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear. It just so happens that 

women are up to 6 times more likely to endure this injury (depending on the study the chance ranges from 4 to 6)! Although the main cause is unknown, there are several speculative causes. An important fact to keep in mind while reading the following is a woman's ACL is much smaller than a male's ACL.  

 

There are 4 main theories that attempt at explaining why women are more likely to injure their knees: intercondylar notch, pelvis, estrogen, and leg strength.

• The ACL runs in between the intercondylar notch (see picture to the right) in both sexes; however, a woman's notch is typically narrower than a man's.  This causes (theoretically) a woman's ACL to be wore down easier, because the ACL rubs on the bone. This is magnified in sports that require fast direction change (basketball, volleyball, softball...). As a result, the ACL becomes weaker over time and is more prone to tearing all the way. 
• Women also have much wider pelvises, which changes the angle of the femur (thigh bone) and the tibia (shin) at the knee. The more drastic angle can cause internal rotation of either bone which causes stress on the ACL. 
• The effect of estrogen  is not fully understood, but there are numerous studies that show females' tendons typically relax/loosen with higher levels of estrogen.  This relaxing of the tendons causes the knee to become more flexible, increasing the risk of overextending the ACL. 
• Leg strength can also incorporate men as well, but generally women have weaker leg muscles than men.  Not only do they have weaker legs, women focus on their quadriceps and not their hamstrings.  This unbalance causes uneven stresses on the knee, which can lead to a complete "blow out" of the knee (damage or complete tears on majority of the ligaments in the knee). 

Even though women are more prone to a knee injury, there are preventative measures.  This body building website has some great exercises that focus on the knee area.  Each move is demonstrated step by step with pictures to ensure you are conducting it properly.  Since the knee is such a valuable but complex area, it is important to use the right form. Otherwise, you could be doing more harm than good.