CALL TO ACTION! WHAT CAN WE ALL DO TO HELP?

Here is my list of actions we can take to help reduce the prevalence of ACL injuries among women soccer players. Some of these suggestions are most relevant to players in states like California that have switched to a winter high school season played exclusively on synthetic turf instead of grass. Like me, players in these states and regions now play 75%-80% of all their games on synthetic turf!

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1. Studies cited here and elsewhere suggest a strong link between ACL injuries and wearing grass cleats on synthetic turf which puts more stress and strain on ligaments like the ACL. Players, coaches and parents should advocate to their clubs, federations, and high schools for rule changes requiring turf shoes to be worn by all players on synthetic turf surfaces. Referees used to check cleats when they checked for shin pads and they should be doing that again to make sure the right soccer boots are matched to the surface to reduce risks of injury. Call and email your coaches, clubs, HS athletic directors, US Club, US Soccer Federation, ECNL, US Youth Soccer, ODP, and other key stakeholders and representatives. Organize the players on your teams to wear turf shoes and ask for the league and club rule change.

2. Contact the Public Relations departments and other executives at Nike, Adidas , Diadora, Puma, Umbro, Under Armour and others to point out the issue of footwear contributing to higher rates of ACL injuries and ask them to consider changing their marketing to highlight the need for appropriate turf shoes to be worn on turf. Ask them to extend popular grass shoe lines linked to star players to include a robust selection of turf shoes to help support the cause and communicate to young players that turf shoes are cool and a crucial piece of equipment for any player that has training or games on synthetic surfaces. The lack of marketing focus on turf shoes and shortage of quality models at retail stores is part of the problem. Organize the players on your teams to advocate en mass. Take this opportunity to also ask these companies to support more research into optimizing footwear for each surface to prevent injuries. They should all be open to these ideas since it'll mean another pair of boots in every player's bag!

3. Advocate with your coaches, clubs and schools for more cutting edge injury prevention training. There are new programs that analyze an individual player's movement, jumping, landing, etc to identify players at higher risk and help them adjust their movement and positioning to reduce their ACL and other injury risks. Women move differently than men and these differences seem to be contributing to higher rates of injury. These new analysis tools and training programs should be embraced and included as part of mandatory team training at all levels. We should also ask our soccer federations and universities to support additional ongoing research in this area to keep these injury prevention programs on the cutting edge. Strengthening and flexibility programs are not enough by themselves. Organize the players on your teams to advocate as a group and communicate the need for action.

4. Contact professional players and coaches, both past and present, college coaches, television hosts and analysts, soccer experts, etc to ask them to take up the cause and help advocate for these rules, policies, and brand marketing changes. I heard Julie Foudy educate one of the male British lay by play announcers during a WNT game recently. The male announcer said, of I didn't even know that women were injuring their knees at a much higher level than the men. The Women's National Team, for example, is on record arguing against playing games on turf because of the increased risk of injury so they know the issue exists and could be important supporters of this cause!

5. Use social media to spread the word and organize players, parents and fans to create a movement and widespread awareness of the steps we can all take to help reduce the massive wave of injuries that young women soccer players have endured and continue to face every day playing the sport we love. Share the link to this web site, fill out the contact form below to receive updates and more information, and follow me on social media. Share your stories here and on social media of injuries and inspirational recoveries, and as importantly your successes in changing the footwear and injury prevention training policies of your teams, leagues, and soccer organizations. I will add more links to helpful resources to this site as others rally to our cause.