A project to protect the cruciate ligaments of female footballers, weakened by shoes designed for men – Libération

The international footballers’ union and its British counterpart, Nike and Leeds Beckett University are embarking on a three-year project to improve consideration of the increased risk of injury among female footballers.

This shows that not all parliamentary committees refer to the Théodule committee. On March 5, “The Women and Equalities Committee”, a multi-party committee of the British Parliament dedicated to equality between women and men, unveiled a report devoted to “the problem of anterior cruciate ligament injuries of the knee in women’s football” . The document deplored “ill-fitting shoes”, with, for female footballers, a three to six times greater risk of suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Which leads to a stoppage of varying duration, but in any case several weeks and, often, surgical intervention (ligamentoplasty).

The commission called for the establishment of a working group which would bring together the UK Institute of Sport, experts in women’s health and fitness, sport and exercise research institutes, and the UK branches of major clothing and sporting goods brands “to develop a long-term strategy to tackle the health and physiology issues of women in sport, including those relating to sports clothing and equipment. sport”.

“Identify best practices”

And now we learn that two unions, the International Federation of Professional Footballers’ Associations (Fifpro), the British Association of Professional Footballers, Nike and Leeds Beckett University have decided to collaborate “to accelerate research in order to reduce anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and to increase the availability of female footballers. Fifpro noted that “the partners of the ”LCA project” will work proactively with the clubs and players of the Women’s Super League (WSL) [le championnat féminin d’Angleterre de football, qui compte 12 équipes, ndlr] in order to better understand their work environment, identify best practices and propose solutions to promote the reduction of anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

The LCA project is to be deployed over three years, with the objective of analyzing existing research and injury reduction programs, studying team resources and access to facilities, and monitoring factors in real time. such as the workload and travel of the players. There is no question of specific equipment yet but, at least, real mobilization is being created, at the bedside of the female cruciate ligaments.