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Wearable Technology to reduce risk of ACL injury in female soccer players

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the two cruciate ligaments that aids in stabilizing the knee joint. It is the most injured ligament in the knee, commonly occurring in football, soccer, and basketball players (Evans & Nielson, 2022). The incidence of ACL injuries is significantly higher in female athletes, 3.5 times in basketball and 2.8 times in soccer, compared to male athletes respectively (The Female ACL, 2016). The at-risk situations for noncontact ACL injuries appear to be deceleration, cutting or changing directions, and landing (The Female ACL, 2016). Advances in technology have allowed individual endurance athletes, sports teams, and physicians to monitor functional movements, workloads, and biometric markers to maximize performance and minimize injury. Wearable sensor technology could provide a more feasible and efficient solution for monitoring knee joint movements and dynamic range of motion during training and competitive sports (Li et al., 2016). Female soccer players participating in this study will complete A Knee injury & Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) questionnaire to evaluate short-term and long-term symptoms and function in subjects with previous knee injuries (Roos & Lohmander, 2003). Secondly, the players will use wearable sensors while performing specific exercises that simulate in-game movements. Including box jumps and lateral jumps, plant & cut, side steps, sprinting and walking. The kinematic data will be compared with the injury questionnaire data.
This study aims to explore the use of the wearable sensors in the identification of specific movement characteristics that may be potential risk factors for an ACL injury in female soccer players. The real-time motion data may be able to identify improper movements that could help players to recognize and correct their movements to prevent potential knee-specific injuries like ACL tears.