title: Prevention of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in sports. Part I: systematic review of risk factors in male athletes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to report a comprehensive literature review on the risk factors for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in male athletes.
  
  
  METHODS
  All abstracts were read and articles of potential interest were reviewed in detail to determine on inclusion status for systematic review. Information regarding risk factors for ACL injuries in male athletes was extracted from all included studies in systematic fashion and classified as environmental, anatomical, hormonal, neuromuscular, or biomechanical. Data extraction involved general characteristics of the included studies (type of study, characteristics of the sample, type of sport), methodological aspects (for quality assessment), and the principal results for each type of risk factor.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The principal findings of this systematic review related to the risk factors for ACL injury in male athletes are: (1) most of the evidence is related to environmental and anatomical risk factors; (2) dry weather conditions may increase the risk of non-contact ACL injuries in male athletes; (3) artificial turf may increase the risk of non-contact ACL injuries in male athletes; (4) higher posterior tibial slope of the lateral tibial plateau may increase the risk of non-contact ACL injuries in male athletes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anterior cruciate ligament injury in male athletes likely has a multi-factorial aetiology. There is a lack of evidence regarding neuromuscular and biomechanical risk factors for ACL injury in male athletes. Future research in male populations is warranted to provide adequate prevention strategies aimed to decrease the risk of this serious injury in these populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital del Mar-Parc de Salut Mar, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Passeig Marítim 25-29, 08003, Barcelona, Spain, ealentorngeli@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alentorn-Geli
authors.forename: Jurdan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendiguchía
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Samuelsson
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Musahl
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cugat
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Myer
mesh_terms: D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000503:physiopathology; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D056352:Athletes; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000503:physiopathology; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013977:Tibia