The truth about knee injuries that more women need to know

Serious injuries like ACL ruptures can happen to anyone who leads an active lifestyle. But women might be more at risk

- Pulasta Dhar

It's fascinating how different human bodies can be in the ways they function. Having played, watched, and worked in sport, I've seen a fair share of my male friends go through serious knee injuries. Of these, an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear is the most dreaded one, with meniscus tears of varying degrees a close second. While an ACL is mostly a sporting injury, it can also strike without any warning. This is due to recurring stress on the ligament which causes it to lose its elasticity. The most common example given is thinking of the ligament as a stretched-out rubber band.

But until I came across a friend's experience with an ACL tear, the thought that these could be linked to factors that went beyond the trauma, force or a sudden twist during an injury or a movement never crossed the mind. Nupur D'souza, 38, tore her ACL in 2020 during the lockdown while dancing at home. Despite living an active lifestyle in Goa which includes playing frisbee, hiking and regular gym work, she heard the dreaded snap or pop sound that a torn ligament makes.

Srishti Sharma, 28, tore her ACL last year after a fall during rock climbing. The apparel designer from Delhi attempted a "dyno"—a dynamic move that climbers make using momentum to get from one hold to another—when she fell.

"I latched on to the hold but slipped, and fell on to the mat, but I fell on my right foot and my knee collapsed in and I heard a pop and that's when I knew the ACL was gone. My medial meniscus was also torn."

When D'souza was diagnosed, her doctor told her about the correlation between estrogen levels and ligament tears, and how this means that women are predisposed when it comes to ACL tears depending on their menstrual cycle. This has, according to research, led to a two-to-six-fold increase in ACL injuries among female athletes compared to men.