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First the cheers: 16-year-old YB young hope Iman Beney can go to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. A day later she suffered a setback: she tore her cruciate ligament in the national team training camp. World Cup gone!
It is one of the many cruciate ligament tears that made headlines during the World Cup. Precisely because of these injuries, a whole group of world-class players were missing: the English captain Leah Williamson and European Championship top scorer Beth Mead, the French top strikers Delphine Cascarino and Marie-Antoinette Katoto, and the Dutch Vivianne Miedema. The list could be much longer. Two-time World Cup winner Alexia Putellas barely returned to the Spanish team, but was clearly not yet in top form. Even though their country won the title.
Three players, two ACL tears
Or this example: Blick.ch profiles three players in the AXA Women’s Super League at the end of 2022 and asks them how they spend the winter break – the time when female footballers in Switzerland can (or should) work more. A week after the interview, the email comes from Sara Nilsson of FC Aarau, who was discussed in the article: cruciate ligament tear. In March, a second of the three players suffered the same injury: YB forward Hope Malaurie Granges was slowed down by her knee after a strong first half of the season.
Kim Kulig is a knee injury expert. Unfortunately. At the 2011 Home World Cup in Germany, she was a regular player in coach Silvia Neid’s team. Kulig, who just turned 21, is considered a star of the future. In the fourth minute of the quarter-final against Japan, the cruciate ligament tore.
She attempted several comebacks over the next four years and also made a return to the national team. However, she had to end her career after four knee operations. She recently spent two seasons as assistant coach at Champions League finalist VfL Wolfsburg and this summer she took over the women’s team from FC Basel.
“Just passed on as a junior”
“The cruciate ligament problem has always been there,” Kulig (33) says today. Studies show that ACL tears are five to seven times more common in women than in men. In fact, the regeneration time is even longer. Kulig adds: “In my time there was hardly any individual support. As a junior I just kept playing: preparation, championship, cup, national team, did everything.” And overloaded. The subject is of course still relevant, but the circumstances are “much better today”.
This starts with the cruciate ligament problem being addressed – and generally better observation of players. Kulig: “Let’s take FC Basel. This season we have recruited thirteen new players. First we asked everyone: What injuries have you had? What have you seen?”
Every morning the entire team fills out a questionnaire. The FCB’s athletics trainer, Valentina Mühlebach, lists the topics asked about there: “How are you feeling? How did you sleep? Are you stressed?” And: “Are you having your period now?”
The daily question not only serves the coaching team, but should also encourage the players to observe their cycle and its influence on various parameters such as recovery capacity or resilience, says Mühlebach, adding: “The taboo around menstruation in women’s sports is finite. .”
For example, skier Mikaela Shiffrin helped. She made headlines in January when she said in a TV interview that she was ‘not having the best time in her monthly cycle’. It is known that many women experience pain or feel weaker during their periods. But the connections go much further than that.
Depending on the phase of the cycle, 47 percent more risk
“Numerous studies show that the risk of knee injuries increases depending on the phase of the cycle,” says Kulig. An English study has shown that the risk in the late follicular phase is 47 percent greater than in the early phase. This means: after bleeding has stopped and before ovulation, the danger is greatest. “In this phase, more estrogen is released, which affects the mobility of the ligaments in the knee.” Simply put: the ligaments become weaker and more vulnerable. Mühlebach adds: “During this time we see that the players are doing more stability exercises.”
The players’ self-screening has already been incorporated into the training. And in the line-up? Coach Kulig: “Knowing whether a player is currently in her period worries me. I will then see how I can manage the load and keep a closer eye on the players. But influence on the line-up? No.”
Most importantly, the menstrual cycle is only part of the explanation for why women are prone to knee injuries. More importantly, due to the feminine pelvic position, they have a greater tendency to have knuckles than men. The pressure on the knees is greater and they buckle more easily. This is a biological fact that you cannot change, no matter where you are in the female cycle. The Swiss Football Association wants to improve injury prevention with the BOP project. Project manager and fitness coach Mélanie Pauli is in close contact with the clubs.
Athletics trainer Mühlebach also emphasizes that as a woman you should not only look at the cycle negatively – not in sports or otherwise: “The time before ovulation is a ‘strength phase’. Then you can expect a player to be more intense. And ultimately: the cycle is part of us as women. Regardless, we are always ready to ‘perform’.”
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
