Low-impact alternatives cut girls' knee injuries: ACL tears 10 times more common in females.(Women's Health)(Anterior Cruciate Ligament )

SAN FRANCISCO -- Girls and young women in competitive sports outdistance their male counterparts in the number of knee injuries they sustain. However, a new prevention strategy promises to even up the score.

A training program aimed at modifying the high-impact way girls often land when they jump during hard play has been shown to lower the injury rate and improve performance measures, Timothy Hewett, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Called "jump training," it aims to correct girls' innate jumping behavior, which poorly utilizes the knee flexors, compared with boys' jumping behavior. In the past, this …