Are oral contraceptive use and menstrual cycle phase related to anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in female recreational skiers?

Oral contraceptive use and menstrual cycle phase are suggested to influence the risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female athletes. However, only few data are available for recreational sports. Therefore, female recreational skiers with a non-contact ACL injury and age-matched controls completed a self-reported questionnaire relating to menstrual history, oral contraceptive use and previous knee injuries. Menstrual history data were used to group subjects into either preovulatory or postovulatory phases of menstrual cycle. Our findings suggest that oral contraceptive use did not show any protective effect against ACL injuries nor did self-reported previous knee injuries show any association with ACL injury rate in recreational alpine skiing. Analysis of menstrual history data revealed that recreational skiers in the preovulatory phase were significantly more likely to sustain an ACL injury than were skiers in the postovulatory phase.