Abstract

Anterior cruciate ligament injury in soccer players is an important knee pathology that requires great understanding by the treating surgeon because of how it can psychologically affect the health of the injured athlete. Majority of these injuries will occur in young adults with female’s athletes having a higher risk than males. Risk factors can either be modifiable or non-modifiable and diagnostic accuracy of Lever sign in the evaluation of the injured athlete is higher than the traditional ones. This injury can be managed surgically and non-surgically and while available evidence suggests that most treating surgeon tilts towards surgical, the available literature is not decisive on which is superior between the two options of care and hence the current trend is to present all available evidences to the injured athlete so that such athlete can make an informed decision. Anterior cruciate ligament injury is preventable and most injured athletes will return to play whether they are managed operatively or non-operatively.

Keywords: Anterior cruciate ligament; Soccer; Disease management; Prevention