ACL Injuries and Female Athletes: What's the Connection?

Megan McEwan, Verrazzano Class of 2021, completed major in SLS and minor in Psychology

My capstone project was very interesting and personal to me. I was lucky to be hands on with my research, which consisted of girls tearing their ACLs during menstruation. This topic really spoke to me as a female athlete who had torn her ACL three times during menstruation, and people do not realize that there is a connection. I did not know there was a connection either until it started to become a repetitious pattern with multiple female athletes who I know that were in the same predicament.

A big reason why this topic also spoke to me is because the recovery of tearing my ACL multiple times was very tough and mentally hard. The research helped me to understand and make more sense of what exactly happened, and put me in touch with many people in the same circumstance. It allowed for me to not only share my story but to be able to share my knowledge to connect the injury that also occurred to them.

Since my freshman year as a Dolphin I had been involved in athletics and research, so completing the capstone was a big accomplishment of my prior years. I loved my time as a student athlete and Verrazzano member. I met a lot of great people along the way, and made connections that I will have forever.

I love to advocate for people to go to CSI and join the Verrazzano Honors program, as well as getting involved in the community as much as they could. I will forever cherish this experience and everything along the way.