In the world of sports medicine, where passion collides with prowess, a silent struggle rages on. Beyond the goals and emphatic victories lies a hidden epidemic, one that scarcely graces the headlines but hugely impacts those who grace the pitch. The recent surge in ACL injuries among women’s football players has brought this silent battle to the forefront, inviting us to peel back the layers and delve into its depths.
Meet Georgia Griffin, 23, a training physician and health advisor who has experienced dealing with ACL injuries. She reveals the systemic biases that exist within sports, where women are either excluded or underrepresented.
She said: “It is not common knowledge that women are six times more likely to rupture their ACL compared to their male counterparts. This is because even seemingly minor details, like player boots, are designed with males in mind first. The female body is different, and these nuances play a significant role.’’
St Mary’s University London scanned over 350 boots worn by female players and concluded a significant amount of difference in their feet, heel shapes, bedding points and foot width.
The same paper also concluded that the stud length on the boots also increases the chances of injury for female players; this is due to their boots being more likely to stick to the ground whilst playing leading to a higher risk of falling according to the research.
Nicholas Chan, 23, Hashtag Women’s Coach noted that the pitch quality in some of the lower leagues has resulted in players being badly injured. Experts have also said that the pitches in the women’s game are not being afforded the same level of technology or quality as some in the higher-end men’s game.
Most notably, a big clash between Chelsea and Liverpool in January last year further raised this concern due to the poor conditions of the pitch and the game had to be called off.
Chan said: “When you go down the leagues and watch some of the games the instant quality difference is very clear, the ball bobbles off the ground making it difficult for players to control, even when players go for tackles you can see from the markings on the pitch after it is not looked after or kept.
“Stylistically it affects how we approach games and the way we set up particularly when it is more than one more player that is coming back from an injury let alone an ACL of course I cannot speak for the players myself, but I can see that it affects their confidence and sometimes the player may never fully recover.
“For example, at the start of last season, we set up as a three at the back with overlapping fullbacks, the set-up of how we want our fullbacks to overlap, and underlap required a lot of fitness and intensity. Unfortunately, one of them got injured and it changed the way we played, of course, we kept the same philosophy in playing style, but we then quickly realised it had to be changed and our season looked completely different at the end.’’
Chan further explained that some players experience tougher recovery from an ACL than some may think.
Players from the lower leagues are only paid their full wage for a minimum of 12 weeks and, according to the NHS website, the average recovery time for an ACL is roughly six weeks with some cases lasting eight to nine months.
He said: ‘’When you factor in that some clubs down the lower leagues beyond the Vanarama struggle financially, I cannot imagine what it is like for when a player is injured, I have even heard cases where players are on a pay-to-play contract so if a player is injured then it is pretty much curtains for them.
“The wage alone takes a massive toll on a player’s emotional wellbeing. A lot of the players in my squad have families to look after and a lot of them have dependants as well so when an injury like an ACL comes into your life there’s so much that can go wrong during that road to recovery.’’
Mr Chan believes that there are several factors as to why ACL injuries are occurring more and more within our game, he highlights that fixture congestion plays a big factor in the likelihood of an injury occurring, especially at the top level.
Where football clubs take part in different competitions and the further the team progresses the more importance is added to the fixture as well as the pressure that comes with reaching the back end of certain tournaments.
Additionally, when it comes to gender differences in football boots and kit wear a recent study shows that these particular items play a role in the risk of ACL, in the women’s game.
‘’I am not sure whether that is due to lack of funding, but I am confident that it affects injury in some sort of way.’’
This gender bias is further proven by research done by Dr Janine Austin Clayton who revealed that less than half of exercise medicine studies feature women and in sports, women make up only 3% to 6% of participants.
Mrs Griffin further shares a common story with many players who have suffered the same fate. Her ACL injury occurred when she suddenly changed direction to avoid a collision with another player.
She said: ‘’It was a chasing ball I remember one of my teammates played a loose pass and I chased it but as I was about to get close to the ball it looked like she was going to get there before me and there was very little space to change the direction my foot planted well into the ground, and I felt three snaps within my knee.
‘’I can remember the pain I felt after it was like nothing I ever felt before it felt as if someone got my leg and snapped it in half, I was rolling on the floor like I had been shot I don’t think I will ever feel pain like that ever again.’’
Regarding the road to recovery, Georgia mentions how the team’s physio helped her with their physical recovery. The effects of the injury were a lot more serious than she initially thought, she mentions how the long-term physical pain that she felt affected her day-to-day life whilst being side-lined.
Her appetite for food lessened over time and even getting up every morning to do the basic chores felt like a mission to her. She talks about how the injury affected her prospects she would worry that her team would bring in someone new to replace her and that would trouble her sleep daily. She has felt low on motivation and sometimes would completely isolate herself from her friends and family.
Georgia Griffin plays for
Hashtag United and suffered an ACL injury
which put her on the side-lines for four months
Nicholas Chan is the coach of
Hashtag United Women’s reserves, working
with the squad and coaching the league games
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