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Women are eight times more likely to have severe knee injuries than men, according to an article on Oprah.com. An exercise program called PEP (prevent injury and enhance performance) was created by the Santa Monica Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Research Foundation. It was tested by the CDC's Injury Center. This program may protect women from knee injuries.
To prevent injury to the knees, the program focuses on strengthening hip, thigh, abdomen, and lower back muscles. Only 15 to 20 minutes, three times per week is said to be all it takes for this program to be effective. The American Journal of Sports Medicine indicated that women who followed this program had 41 percent less anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries than players who did not use the program.
An article on the FIFA website said that women athletes are often vulnerable to tears in the ACL of the knee. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is known in English as the International Federation of Association Football, and is commonly known as FIFA. This is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer.
To protect against ACL injuries, FIFA recommended the PEP warm-up program. PEP makes use of warm-up and strengthening of the muscles. Exercises for football improved athletes' ability to jump, stop, and turn.
In the study, according to the FIFA article, teams of players who practiced PEP had no ACL injuries. Other teams had six players who had ACL injuries. Even players who had had ACL injuries in the past were spared non-contact ACL injuries during the study while players who did not use PEP had four injuries.
The Oprah.com article described six types of exercises in the PEP program.
- Vertical jumps improve your lower body stability and strength.
- Crunches build strength in abdominals. The abdominal muscles support the trunk, permitting movement and keeping internal organs in place by controlling internal abdominal pressure. The abdominals are located between the ribs and the pelvis.
Four abdominal muscle groups cover the internal organs. The transversus abdominus is the deepest muscle layer, which stabilizes the trunk and regulates internal abdominal pressure. The rectus abdominus is located between the ribs and pubic bone at the front of the pelvis and moves the body between the rib cage and the pelvis. When well developed, these form the coveted "six pack". The external oblique muscles are inside the hip bones, flanking the rectus abdominus. These muscles operate in the opposite way to the external oblique muscles. For instance, the left side internal oblique and the right side external oblique must contract together in order to twist the trunk to the left.
- Walking lunges enhance stability and balance and increase strength in the quadriceps muscles. The quadriceps are a group of four muscles in the front of the thigh. Primarily, they straighten the knee joint from a bent position.
- The Hamstring Lean exercise strengthens the hamstring muscles. The hamstrings are any one of three posterior thigh muscles which are the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris.
- The Knee to Chest exercise stretches muscles in the lower back.
- The Bridge with Leg Lift strengthens buttocks, hip flexors and abductors. Abductors in the legs pull each leg away from the midline of the body, and away from each other.
Jody Smith is a freelance writer for Empowher.com
Sources:
These Exercises Could Save You A Knee Injury
http://www.oprah.com/health/Knee-Strengthening-Exercises-Prevent-Knee-Injuries-with-PEP-Regimen
Protecting the female player from serious knee injuries
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/footballdevelopment/medical/news/newsid=836240/index.html
Related Links:
Preventing Sports Injuries With Alex Morgan and Bert Mandelbaum, M.D.
Female Athletes And Knee ACL Injuries
Arthritis May Respond to Moderate Exercise
http://www.empowher.com/arthritis/content/arthritis-may-respond-moderate-exercise
