Alison Sanders is no stranger to sports injuries. The Duke senior plays soccer for the Blue Devils and has torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee three times.
"After I tore it once, I just kept tearing it," she says.
Many female athletes can relate to Alison's story, which is just one of the reasons why Dr. Alison Toth started the Duke Women's Sports Medicine Program. Since men and women tend to get different injuries, the goal is to provide specialized care for active females.
"For instance in basketball, women are four to five times more likely to tear their ACL than men," Toth says.
Injury prevention and developing a healthy training plan are also parts of the program.
"One of the focuses of our program is to do some prevention -- both through education and neuromuscular training -- to make women less likely to have an injury," Toth says.
You do not have to be a collegiate athlete to benefit from the program. The center treats women with all kinds of injuries and those just looking to get active.
Besides Duke, the only other women's sports medicine center is in New York City. Other centers across the country are looking into setting up programs similar to the one at Duke.
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