Citation

Hashemi J, Breighner R, Chandrashekar N, Hardy DM, Chaudhari AM, Shultz SJ, Slauterbeck JR, Beynnon BD. J. Biomech. 2011; 44(4): 577-585.

Affiliation

Texas Tech University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA; Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Department of Cell Biology, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jbiomech.2010.11.013

PMID

21144520

Abstract

Considering that an athlete performs at-risk sports activities countless times throughout the course of his or her career prior to the instance of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, one may conclude that non-contact ACL injury is a rare event. Nevertheless, the overall number of non-contact ACL injuries, both in the US and worldwide, remains alarming due to the growing number of recreational and professional athletes participating in high-risk activities. To date, numerous non-contact ACL injury mechanisms have been proposed, but none provides a detailed picture of sequence of events leading to injury and the exact cause of this injury remains elusive. In this perspective article, we propose a new conception of non-contact ACL injury mechanism that comprehensively integrates risk factors inside and outside the knee joint. The proposed mechanism is robust in the sense that it is biomechanically justifiable and addresses a number of confounding issues related to ACL injury.

Language: en