fall 2007 - Seton Hall University

6
HALLMARKS
THE DISCOVERY ZONE
A straight line to the great minds at Seton Hall
ACL
injury prevention training
Are women athletes more susceptible to the
painful anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee
injury than male athletes? Do we know why?
It’s true. Women are two to four times as likely as
men to tear an ACL — even if they’re equally active
— and these injuries result in major knee surgery,
rigorous rehabilitation and a loss of six or more
months of sports participation. Many causes for the
disparity have been cited, including hormonal variations
and structural differences in women’s knees,
but biomechanics offer the most compelling explanation;
women simply jump, land and make turns when
running in different ways than men do, which puts
their knees at risk.
How can women better avoid these injuries?
Exercise programs called ACL injury prevention
training, where athletes complete running, pivoting,
and jumping drills while using a specific body
mechanics technique, are available. Female athletes
who participate in these four-to-six-week programs
reduce their ACL injury rate to that of men.
For more information about ACL injury prevention training, email Jim Phillips, PT,
Ph.D., professor of physical therapy in the School of Graduate Medical Education,
at philliho@shu.edu with “The Discovery Zone” in the subject line.
Photo by Ian Bradshaw
BY THE NUMBERS
Summer Scholars Program
Preparing incoming Seton Hall students
for college studies since 2006
For Summer 2007:
47
Students assisted (up from 21 in 2006)
98
Percent admitted and enrolled in Seton Hall
3.36
Average GPA for students while in the program
4
Number of subjects covered
(English writing workshop, college study skills,
oral communication, introduction to sociology)
100
Number of hours students spent in class
$20,000
Grant that sustains the program