College of Charleston Assistant Professor, Yum Nguyen, PhD, has been selected by The Journal of Athletic Training as the first runner-up for the annual unsolicited Kenneth L. Knight Award for the Outstanding Research Manuscript. Nguyen’s research focused on ACL injuries and he and his co-authors determined that someone with stronger hip muscles may be less likely to go into positions that would injure their ACL. Additionally, the way the legs are anatomically positioned may also contribute to postions that injure the ACL. This research was originally published in the June 2011 issue of The Journal of Athletic Training.

Specifically, if an individual’s lower extremity is anatomically aligned where the hip and knees are rotated inward, they illustrated movement patterns where the hips and knees collapse inward during functional activities and may be at greater risk for ACL injury.  In addition, if they had decreased function of their hip muscles, they were also prone to the inward collapse during functional activities.

“As an Athletic Trainer, I have seen my fair share of ACL injuries,” Nguyen says. “The only way to decrease the number of ACL injuries is to identify those factors that increase injuries and address those factors.  There is a crucial need for comprehensive studies that identify the most important risk factors for ACL injury in maturing youth so that age appropriate and gender specific interventions can be developed.”

Nguyen is currently collecting data from a large sample of teen athletes in several Charleston area high schools.  Nguyen is working with research teams from the University of North Florida, and the University of Connecticut to annually assess lower extremity alignment, body composition, strength, and dynamic movement patterns, to be able to identify specific factors that are associated with ACL injury in a large teen population.

For more information, contact Yum Nguyen at nguyeny@cofc.edu.