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The 23-year-old German national player Giulia Gwinn suffered her second cruciate ligament tear in October
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Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
Female soccer players are much more susceptible to cruciate ligament tears than male soccer players.
This was confirmed by Tobias Schmenn, team doctor of the German women's national team, of the German Press Agency.
"Depending on the study, the risk of a cruciate ligament injury for women is described as three to six times higher than for men, and some authors assume an even higher risk," said the 42-year-old.
The specialist in orthopedics and trauma surgery at the Dortmund Prevention Center and senior physician at the Hellersen Sports Clinic sees various reasons for this: »Here, women tend to have a knock-knee axis, a predominance of the front thigh muscles over the rear ones and a more upright landing from the jump.
Men are more likely to squat,” said Schmenn.
Hormonal factors are also discussed
In addition, there would probably be certain additional anatomical differences such as a somewhat narrower bony situation in the area of the upper, anterior cruciate ligament attachment and a possibly somewhat increased slope of the tibial plateau.
“Hormonal factors are also being discussed.
Studies have shown that estrogen leads to a loosening of the tissue and a decrease in the tensile strength of the cruciate ligament,” Schmenn added.
Giulia Gwinn from FC Bayern Munich is currently curing a runner-up from a cruciate ligament rupture.
It is already the second of the 23-year-old defender.
Playmaker Dzsenifer Marozsán from Olympique Lyon missed the German women at the European Championships in England in the summer with the same diagnosis.
World footballer Alexia Putellas from FC Barcelona suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in her left knee just before the start of the tournament.
Schmeen disagreed with popular opinion that a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament would heal after six months: “The average time it takes for the so-called 'return to competition', i.e. the return to the game, is around nine months.
And that applies under optimal conditions.« In addition to muscular differences, there is also the fact that most of the players in the women’s Bundesliga also have a normal job or study.
This means that the entire focus cannot be placed on rehabilitation or, even better, prevention.
mrk/dpa