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Ac Injury Prevention Participation Amongst Collegiate Female Athletes, Natalie Bardwell

Honors Program Projects

Background: A common injury for athletes is a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament, with a disproportionally higher rate of injury among female athletes rather than male athletes due to many anatomical and physiological differences. One of the proposed causes of increased injury is the difference in hormone levels during the phases of the menstrual cycle. While ACL injury prevention programs have been used to help reduce the number of injuries among athletes, it is not yet well known if changing hormone levels throughout the menstrual cycle is predictive of ACL injury risk among athletes that engage in injury prevention …