DJO Global, Inc. today announced that Megan Rapinoe, Olympic gold medalist for the U.S. Women's Soccer Team and member of the Seattle Reign FC, a part of the National Women's Soccer League, is partnering with the medical device company to help educate young athletes on the value of bracing in both injury prevention and returning to play.
"I have had two major injuries during my career—both ACL tears. There is a lot of pressure inside and outside of schools and organizations to recover quickly, which I appreciate, but it's up to young athletes, parents and coaches to take steps to recover safely and guard against injury and re-injury," says Rapinoe. "This will only allow for a stronger, better return to sport in the long run."
Young adults, from ages 15 through 25, are at a greater risk of tearing their ACLs; young, female athletes are two to eight times more likely than young men to injure the ACL,1 making alignment on prevention and recovery between all parties—doctors, coaches, teachers and parents, all the more important. Oftentimes, athletes fear re-injury and assume that they will not be able to return to the game that they love.
"Our collaboration with Megan will really drive the message home that there are processes and products, like the Playmaker II FourcePoint, from DonJoy, a subsidiary of DJO Global, Inc., that can aid in preventing injury in addition to building confidence back up in a player post-injury," said Tom Armbrust, Market Manager, ACL, DJO Global, Inc. "Megan also has a vast amount of experience in education around this subject and can emphasize to young players the importance of having informed conversations with their doctors, coaches, teammates and parents about injury prevention, post-injury recovery and return to play."