That's a relief! Thanks, I'm now safe to read ...
' Female footballers were twice as likely to have a “contact” ACL injury – where a player gets kicked, say, or tackled – than male footballers, and three times more likely to suffer a non-contact ACL injury. This is where players suddenly collapse on the pitch, as Hincks did. The injury rate has remained unchanged; what has changed* *is the number of women on the pitch. “We have more women playing, hence more ACL injuries,”
Follows discussion on whether hormones affect injury likelihood (with the suggestion that research is inconclusive), and ...
'Researching for her PhD in men’s football boots, she found most for men and* *women are based on the feet of a generic white male, UK size eight. “That’s manufacturers’ test model and they simply scale up or down,” she says. The presumption is that what’s male is universal; it fits all. But ... Men are heavier than women and interact with the ground differently. They need studs with more grip to keep them from slipping. “Women are lighter, we don’t run as fast and don’t have the same muscle mass to push off, so we need less traction,” she says. In other words, women are at greater risk of their studs sticking in the ground, and in the context of ACL injuries, this can be disastrous. '
'...research showed that women have a wider forefoot, relative to length, a higher arch and a heel shape different from that of men. She discovered that 82% of the players had daily pain or discomfort.'
And training.