Sam Kerr: Why Female Footballers Suffer More ACL Injuries Than Male As Chelsea Confirm News

• Sam Kerr has become the latest player to pick up the devastating ACL injury
• The 2023 Women's World Cup was deprived of some top players who were nursing anterior cruciate ligament injuries
• Arsenal trio Bethany Mead, Leah Williamson, and Vivianne Miedema led the list of players who picked up ACL injuries
• Observation and research show that the injury is more prevalent in female athletes than their male counterparts

Chelsea have confirmed that lead striker Sam Ker has suffered an anterior cruciate ligament(ACL) injury, which effectively rules her out of the remainder of the season.

The Australian striker picked up the injury during warm weather training in Morocco ahead of the resumption of the Women's Super League and the Champions League this month.

Ahead of the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Sports Brief delved into this injury to try and understand why it seems to be more prevalent in female footballers than their male counterparts.

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The buildup to the tournament Down Under had been overshadowed by a couple of issues. From the lack of broadcasting deals (until late) to bonus disputes, the tournament had suffered its own fair share of challenges.

But none was greater than the number of players who were absent from the tournament due to the monster that is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury.

Players to miss World Cup

Put together England's Leah Williamson and Bethany Mead, the Netherlands' Vivianne Miedema, the USA's Catarina Macario, and Germany's Giulia Gwinn, and you have yourself a squad that can compete for any trophy.

None of these stars played for their nations at last year's tournament. This also includes a couple of others, including 16-year-old Swiss talent, Iman Beney, who had just made the cut into Inka Grings' final squad before disaster struck.

During 2022's Euro Championships, Ballon d'Or winner, Alexia Putellas withdrew from Spain's squad with a similar injury, the same as Ireland's Simone Magill and prospective Golden Boot winner of France, Marie-Antoinette Katoto.

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Can you see the pattern?

The ACL injury is one of the worst injuries a professional athlete, not just a footballer, can get. Chelsea's Wesley Fofana and Aston Vila's Emi Buendia are among the current male players nursing this injury. The list has, in the past, featured world-beaters like Virgil van Dijk and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, among others.

Sky Sports' Inside WSL observed that female footballers are six times more likely to suffer from an ACL injury than their male counterparts. But for starters, what is the ACL injury?

Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury definition

From its name, the Anterior Cruciate Ligament is a crucial ligament inside the knee that joins the shin and the thigh. It keeps the knee stable by preventing the thigh and shin from moving out of place.

A player injures or ruptures his or her ACL when he or she changes speed at a high pace. Tearing your ACL often requires surgery, with recovery at six to 12 months. For an athlete, that technically ends their season.

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No concrete reason has been offered to date on why female athletes are affected more frequently by the injury, given that much of the science is still focused on the male body.

However, as the Athletic reports, a couple of reasons, like the menstrual cycle and the shape of women's bodies, have been floated as possible explanations. Changing hormones can impact the biomechanics and physiology of the body during a cycle.

ACL more common in females

Research from John Hopkins Medicine University pointed out that females have less muscle around the knee, which in case of an overstretch, doesn't give the ligament enough leeway and thus, it gets torn. It further alluded that women tend to land in a collapsing pattern, moving their knees inward and often not bending them enough, which could lead to an ACL tear.

There have been more calls for funds and resources to be allocated to the women's game. There is no denying that it has come a long way, but more needs to be done. Not just because it needs to achieve parity and equality with the men's game, but because issues like the health of the players should take precedence over anything else.

But at the moment, Kerr will painfully have to huddle on a sofa somewhere as she cheers on her Chelsea side from the sidelines. And in what is Emma Hayes' last season in charge, the injury couldn't have come at a worse time for the 30-year-old striker.