Cincinnati Children's Receives $2.9 million Grant
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has received a five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a division of the NIH, to identify female athletes at risk of injury to their knee ligaments, specifically their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL).
"Adolescent females who participate in jumping and pivoting sports suffer ACL injury at a four- to six-fold greater rate than adolescent males participating in the same sports," says Tim Hewett, PhD, director of the Sports Medicine Biodynamics Center at Cincinnati Children's. "This study should increase our ability to direct high-risk athletes to effective, targeted interventions to prevent these injuries from occurring."
The study will test Dr. Hewett's idea that female athletes become more susceptible to ACL injury during puberty, when increases occur in both the length of bones in the leg and body mass. At the same time, his previous studies show, women do not experience the spurt in neuromuscular performance that male athletes do.
"A reduction of female ACL injury rates from five times that of males to equal that of males would allow more than 30,000 female athletes each year to benefit from participation in sports and to avoid long-term consequences of osteoarthritis, which may occur with a 10-fold greater incidence in athletes with ACL injuries," says Dr. Hewett.
The researchers will use three-dimensional virtual modeling of the athletes and follow them through their sports seasons, tracking their injuries.
The Sports Medicine Biodynamics Center offers young athletes a state-of-the-art resource for sports injury care, sports injury prevention, performance training, research and education. No other place in the region offers a full spectrum of care to support the young athlete. The Center brings together sports medicine researchers, physicians, radiologists, sports physical therapists and a human performance lab to help young athletes be the safest and best they can be by:
- Working collaboratively with children's doctors to offer seamless, sports-focused health care services
- Offering insights and expertise on the unique needs of the female athlete
- Generating research and using evolving techniques to help each athlete achieve the best results
"Teaching kids to avoid injuries is crucial to their success," says Dr. Hewett. "We don't want to see a kid on crutches if we can do anything to prevent it."
Contact Information
Jim Feuer,
jim.feuer@cchmc.org, 513-636-4656
