Women who play sports have more knee injuries than athletic men.

Owing to anatomy, hormone fluctuations, biomechanical and neuromuscular factors ... there is an increased liklihood that women will incur an injury when twisting the knee.

10 WAYS FOR SPORTS MINDED WOMEN TO PROTECT THEIR KNEES

1) Learn and use the latest methods to train female athletes for pivot sports.

2) Do not carry excess weight because it contributes to knee stress.

3) Adopt proper body posture because imbalance contributes to knee stress.

4) Strengthen core muscles of the back, abdomen, hips and legs to support the knees.

5) Do not commence sports training unprepared. Start your own training a couple of months prior to the opening of "training camp".

6) Support your body with your thoughts ... for example, when you are moving think, "straight as an arrow, light as a feather", toes-to-heel.

7) Be aware of playing sports at the time of ovulation ... injuries surround the "time period" that exists between days 9-14 of a woman's "cycle".

8) Seek to control your own body weight against gravity ... duplicate the movements you actually would use in your sport during your exercise training program.

9) Women contract their muscles slower than men ... training programs should seek to improve reaction times. In other words, women are more likely to develop an injury if they are required to stop or turn quickly.

10) Concentrate on strengthening the muscles in the back of the thighs (hamstrings) because these muscles are weaker in women and can lead to knee injuries.