Yet Another Patient With Lots Of Bruising

But this is not after a massage session......

Check out the bruising .....

.... but this is after her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) operation done 11 days ago .....with a hamstring graft.

And as written earlier, men don't get it  (men do get it, just not as often as women) and why women are more prone to ACL injuries.

No bruises in front.

Having seen lots of men and women who had an ACL reconstruction done, I must say this is one of the more serious bruising I've seen so far.

She definitely needs to get started on her rehab.

How Kinesio Taping Helps With Swelling/ Bruising

Have a look at the following photo I took of my patient.

This photo was taken from a patient who came in to a clinic a few days
after his double bundle ACL reconstruction and his knee
was really swollen after the operation.

After treating him and mobilizing is patello femoral and tibio femoral joints and telling him what to do and not to do etc, I decided to put some kinesio tape on his severely bruised knee. He came in to the clinic 3 days later and asked what tape he had on. He was pretty impressed with the tape.

You can see the results for yourself.

Hamstring Strength & ACL Injury Risk In Women

*Picture by Lai Jun Wei/ Red Sports

More evidence on why women get it. Here's what researchers in the study below found in young women with regards to the relative strength of their quadriceps and hamstrings. The women who had significantly lower hamstring strength compared to their quadriceps strength were the ones who sustained the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears.

The researchers matched the injury free athletes and the injured athletes as closely as possible in terms of height, weight, dominant limb side and sport to eliminate other factors and then compared their quadriceps and hamstring strength. In addition, a similar group of uninjured male athletes who acted as controls were matched to the injured female athletes as secondary control as well.

The results specifically show that the female athletes who tore their ACL's had weaker hamstring strength as compared to their male counterparts although quadriceps strength was not weaker. In direct contrasts, female athletes who did not tear their ACL's had decreased quadriceps strength and similar hamstring strength compared to matched male athletes.

The researchers concluded that excessive quadriceps strength in relation to hamstring strength is a significant risk factor for ACL injury in female athletes.

As we've said before research is now pointing towards gender and sport specific training and rehabilitation programs to prevent ACL injuries. Please contact us if you have any queries, we can help prevent ACL injuries. If you enjoyed this please also see this.
 

Reference

Meyer GD, Ford KR et al (2009). The Relationship of Hamstrings and Quadriceps Strength to Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Female Athletes. Clinical J of Sports Medicine. 19(1) : 3-8

*Picture by Lai Jun Wei/ Red Sports