Clinical basis: Epidemiology, risk factors, mechanisms of injury, and prevention of ligament injuries of the knee

Abstract

Knee ligament injuries can be devastating to an athlete’s career and pose long-lasting deleterious eff ects in the form of knee osteoarthritis (1). We will begin with a review of the epidemiology of athletic knee ligament injury in general. Furthermore, we will review the mechanisms of injury and relative risk factors for these common athletic injuries. This chapter will also review the epidemiology, mechanism, risk factors, and prevention of knee joint injuries in general; however, it will focus on one of the most serious knee injuries experienced during participation in sports: disruption of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). This injury may not be the most common ligament injury experienced in sports; however, it is one of the most serious in terms of absence from sport, pain, disability, and increased risk of development of osteoarthritis about the knee joint (2). We will therefore discuss methods for prevention of knee ligament injuries, which currently is the only 100% efficacious intervention for long-term health of the knee joint.