The clinical relevance of this finding is that female athletes may be more predisposed to anterior cruciate ligament injuries during the preovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle .
These findings may lead to potential interventions targeted toward this phase of the menstrual cycle to reduce the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injury
Several theories have been proposed to explain the 3- to 6-fold gender difference in the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries .
One potential theory for the increased incidence is based on gender-related hormonal differences between men and women , especially after puberty and the onset of menses in the female athlete .
The purpose of this systematic review was to compile and systematic ally analyze the published literature to determine if the menstrual cycle is associated with anterior cruciate ligament injury risk and to provide an objective comparison of the published results .
Hormonal therapy: ACL and ankle injury.
BACKGROUND No definitive explanation for the difference in rate of male and female noncontact ACL injury has been found . The hormonal environment , known to be different in men and women has been hypothesized as a possible source for this difference in injury rate . PURPOSE To confirm earlier work looking at periodicity of noncontact ACL injury . To increase sample size by adding ankle sprains . To determine the rate of  noncontact ACL injury and ankle sprains in collegiate basketball and soccer . To determine if the use of oral contraceptives affects the rate of noncontact ACL injury and ankle sprains . METHODS Data was collected from a sample of NCAA schools over the 2000 - 2001 basketball and the 2001 - 2002 basketball and soccer seasons . RESULTS Recall and prospect i ve data collection of length of menstrual cycle did not produce equivalent results . Periodicity was present only in the recall group of " off pill " users . The rate of noncontact ACL injury and noncontact ankle sprains was twice as high in basketball as in soccer . There was no difference in rate of injuries between those athletes using  hormonal therapy and those athletes not using hormonal therapy . CONCLUSIONS Noncontact ACL injuries and ankle sprains occurred at significantly higher rates in basketball than in soccer but this rate difference was not linked to hormonal therapy usage . The overall rate of noncontact ACL injury and ankle sprain to women 's collegiate basketball and soccer players is very low
The clinical relevance of this finding is that female athletes may be more predisposed to anterior cruciate ligament injuries during the preovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle .
These findings may lead to potential interventions targeted toward this phase of the menstrual cycle to reduce the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injury
Several theories have been proposed to explain the 3- to 6-fold gender difference in the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament injuries .
One potential theory for the increased incidence is based on gender-related hormonal differences between men and women , especially after puberty and the onset of menses in the female athlete .
The purpose of this systematic review was to compile and systematic ally analyze the published literature to determine if the menstrual cycle is associated with anterior cruciate ligament injury risk and to provide an objective comparison of the published results .