GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Health experts in West Michigan say they see teen girls suffering a serious and painful injury involving the knee more than they do boys.
Spectrum Health Medical Group is working proactively to try to reduce the amount of these injuries.
“It’s a big epidemic that we’re seeing in our area,” said James Lebolt, Division Chief of Orthopedics at Spectrum. “Every day in my office I’m seeing one or two female athletes with (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries.”
Spectrum has teamed up with several schools around the region to hold an 18-session summer camp called Sportsmetrics. The main focus of the camps are the legs.
The drills may not seem vigorous at first glance, but the workouts could be career-saving training for many of the high school-aged athletes. Trainers are trying to reduce ACL and related injuries by building muscles, like hamstrings and glutes.
“We’re talking about tearing major structures that stabilize the joint,” Lebolt said.
Lebolt explained that an anterior cruciate ligament injury causes two bones of the knee to grind against each other. He has seen a recent spike in 14 to 19 year old girls suffering from ACL problems.
Emily Pearson is the athletic trainer at Calvin Christian High School and leads the camp there. She has seen her fair share of ACL injuries. Outside of the physical pain, she knows how devastating it can be.
“We have seen it [injury] happen early on in the season, and their whole season is gone,” Pearson explained to 24 Hour News 8. “It’s a six to nine month recovery, so they lose that season and potentially the next.”
Carissa Katje tore her right ACL sophomore year.
“There’s a specific ACL scream that you do,” she recalled.
Then, Katje sprained her left one before it finally tore last summer — her junior year.
Katje is now an advocate of the Sportsmetrics program and hopes her friends don’t have to learn the hard way.
“It’s kind of disappointing because it is my senior year that I won’t be able to play volleyball or possibly basketball, but I will be able to play soccer so there’s hope,” Katje said.