Cincinnati Sportsmetrics: Preventing Knee Injuries in Women Athletes
By Jim Brown, Ph.D.
Executive Editor, Georgia Tech Sports Medicine & Performance Newsletter

A group of researchers and physicians in Cincinnati developed a program that is gaining national attention in the prevention of knee injuries in both women and men.

In a pilot study, Dr. Timothy Hewett and Dr. Frank Noyes, medical director of the Cincinnati Sportsmedicine Research and Education Foundation, designed a series of exercises to help athletes refine control of the lower limbs and to increase vertical jump. The results included a reduction in landing force of 22 percent, 50 percent less twisting of the knee joint on impact with the floor, and a 10 percent increase in vertical jump.

Sportsmetrics
Since that study, the research team has refined the program, named it Cincinnati Sportsmetrics, and collected data on more than 1,200 high school basketball, volleyball and soccer players. Among the results:

• After six weeks, there were 14 knee injuries serious enough to force the athletes to miss practice or competition.
• Ten of those injuries occurred among girls who were not trained in the Sportsmetrics program, while only two in the trained group were injured.
• Both of those injuries were the result of direct contact rather than by twisting or contact with the floor after a jump.
• Eight of the 10 injuries among untrained athletes happened without physical contact.

Gender Differences
Hewett says there are differences between males and females that affect jumping and landing. "There is an imbalance of strength and power between hamstrings (back of the upper legs) and quadriceps (front of the legs) in female athletes. The power of the hamstrings compared to the quadriceps in females is less than 50 percent, while men have an average hamstrings-to-quadriceps ratio of nearly 70 percent."

"In addition, men use the muscles that flex the knees more than women do, which protects the ACL from injury. Women depend on ligaments to protect their knees rather than controlling the slack with muscles."

The Program
The Sportsmetrics program trains athletes in jumping techniques and targets weak muscle groups. Each session starts with 20 minutes of stretching exercises for the calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors, and upper body. Stretching is followed by 25 minutes of plyometrics and 30-35 minutes of weight training.

Phase I of the program emphasizes jumping and landing skills that include:

• Maintaining correct posture and body alignment.
• Jumping straight up and down with no excessive side-to-side or forward-backward motion.
• Landing softly on bent knees with a toe-to-heel rocking movement.
• Recoiling instantly before the next jump.

In Phase II, the volume of exercise is increased and the emphasis is on improved strength, power and agility. Leg presses and plyometric exercises are an important feature of this component.

Phase III is performance-oriented. The number of jumps is decreased and the emphasis is on perfect jumping technique. Advanced plyometrics, such as jumping off mats and over cones, are also introduced.

The Cincinnati Sportsmetrics program is available on videotape from the Foundation. For more information, call (513) 346-7290, extension 3707. A Sportsmetrics website is under construction.