Saw this article through my school's e-newsletter, though it would be an interesting discussion topic to bring up. (I have NO idea what forum this 'should' be in, mods feel free to move. I think there are indirect references to SLU women, Althletica, and youth/club STL teams.) http://health.usnews.com/health-new...soccer-players-may-face-health-problems-study
Well, 2 weeks ago, in top european newspaper's scientific column, I've read an interview with sport surgeon about athletes. In one place guy said sth like "women are not well anatomically adjusted to running". I was like
I have played soccer for quite long and at the moment i have a ankle injury but this is the first time i got hurt when playing soccer. but i have also seen quite a lot of other girls either from my team or the opponents getting injured in our games. i don't think we get injured more than guys though, but generally we also don't "act" as much, when a girl is down its mostly because she is really injured
Though the rate of ACL injuries is only marginally mentioned in this article, in the final part of it, it's worth noting that the fact that women get this kind of injury at a much higher rate than men is probably true: apart from the fact that I have read medical articles (or posts on this forum quoting them) about that, there is the sheer evidence of what I have seen with my eyes since I follow the women football in Japan: in the last 2-3 years, an impressing number of girls that are or were in the Senior National Team, or around it, had a serious ACL injury (or, anyway, an injury involving knee ligaments): Sakaguchi, Arakawa, Maruyama, Utsugi, Kyokawa, Sugasawa, and that's just counting the ones that had really serious injuries... Others had minor, although annoying, knee injuries, like Ando. And that's just counting Senior National Teams members and in just 2-3 years. Don't even get me started about all the other cases of similar injuries for other players of Nadeshiko League. I am not sure about other kinds of injuries mentioned in the article (like ankle injuries and stress fractures), although, in the same window of time, and still remaining in the limits of Senior NT, Iwabuchi had serious repeated issues of that kind, and Sameshima had some less serious ankle problem; but for ACL I am afraid that it is true that its rate is way higher among women: observation confirms it and I guess even news on the Frauen-Bundesliga forum, that I read from time to time, are consistent with the trend I can see in Nadeshiko League.
It may not be the most PC thing to say in some places, but that's essentially the most simplistic answer.