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I too doubt that knee pads will "prevent" an ACL tear, I do know that there is more twisting motion of the knee in girls when an untrained athlete hits the floor. That may or may not contribute to an ACL tear. It can't hurt that there is a pad prior to the knee impacting the floor. Increased training on proper mechanics of running and jumping, landing and footwork can all help to prevent ACL tears and knee injuries. Girls generally do not have the benefit of this training, but jump into (no pun intended) sports without proper warm-up and with coaches who emphasize winning instead of player/athlete development and training.
Wide hips, knees that tend to knock as girls grow, the hormones of puberty that contribute to lax ligaments and improper training are also responsible for greater incidences of knee injuries in girls.
Girls can choose to wear them or not. I advise parents of the literature and research that I have regarding knee injuries and let them make the decision. I was pointing out that they don't hurt and others in sports medicine feel they are more usefull then just preventing unsightly knees (something my 9u - 14u players don't care about anyway).
Coach Gbert
[Edited by coachgbert on Apr 4th, 2005 at 04:32 PM]
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