Sam Kerr the victim of an injury that discriminates against women

Matildas captain Sam Kerr is the latest female football player to fall victim to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

Female athletes are up to six times more likely than their male counterparts of rupturing their ACL – the ligament that connects the bottom of the thighbone (femur) to the top of the shinbone (tibia) – and recovery time is generally eight to 12 months.

Australian captain Sam Kerr ruptured her ACL at a Chelsea training camp in Morocco.Credit: Getty

Since 2021, at least 87 players from eight of the world’s top women’s soccer leagues have torn their ACLs, The Washington Post reported last summer, including Matildas defender Ellie Carpenter, Dutch star Vivianne Miedema and English duo Beth Mead and Leah Williamson.

It’s the second time in Kerr’s career she’s ruptured her ACL, with the 30-year-old first sustaining the injury back in 2011. It is not known if the injury is to the same knee.

Professor Kieran Fallon, a sports medicine physician at The Australian National University and the Matildas team doctor for 13 years leading up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, said ACL injuries were all too common.

“Its [ACL] major function, really, is to keep stability within the knee joint and particularly stability that’s related to rotational movements,” Fallon said.

The ACL crosses in front of the posterior cruciate ligament. Credit: Getty Images

“Injuries to this ligament are common, particularly in sports which require rotation, and particularly also sports that require jumping or landing.

“Certainly in elite sport, and a lot of people who wish to go back to that sort of sport, even in a recreational sense, the ligament [needs to be] repaired by an orthopedic surgeon.”

The most common way to ‘fix’ an ACL is to replace the ligament completely, said Fallon, by harvesting a hamstring tendon from the back of the knee.

“What you do is basically make holes in the femur and the tibia, and you thread the hamstring tendon through those holes, across the knee joint, so it mimics the position and function of the ligament,” he said.

‘The ligament [needs to be] repaired by an orthopedic surgeon.’

Professor Kieran Fallon’s view on ACL injuries

After surgery, athletes can spend up to 12 months on the sideline while they go through a rehabilitation program.

It’s yet another setback for Kerr, who spent months recovering as two calf issues sidelined her for part of last year’s World Cup. It appears unlikely the Matildas’ skipper would be available for the Paris 2024 Olympics tournament which starts from July 24. The Matildas need to beat Uzbekistan next month to secure their spot in the Olympics.

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson said Kerr’s injury was “devastating”.

“Considering how hard Sam has worked over the past six months to return to play, this news is a devastating blow for everyone,” Gustavsson said.

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson and Sam Kerr during the Matildas’ World Cup campaign last year.Credit: AP

“Our focus now is on ensuring she has all the support she wants and needs to navigate recovery and rehab.”

Female athletes are more susceptible to ACL injuries, said Fallon, but the reason why is still largely unknown. ACL injuries were sending such shockwaves through the sport that last year Nike came out with a football boot designed specifically for women to try and reduce the number of injuries.

There are some anatomical factors which could make women more prone to the injury, said Fallon, but there’s not enough research into what those factors could be.

Now, researchers, including Fallon, are looking into potential social and environmental factors that could influence the likelihood of injury, such as education available to female players, the number of strength and conditioning trainers compared to men’s sports teams and the facilities available to female athletes.

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