USA Today reports that Bound Brook High School in NJ has been selected as winner of the Healthy Sport Index award for girls basketball. The award serves as a model for other programs aiming to deliver positive health outcomes for female athletes. The Healthy Spot Index was developed in partnership between the Aspen Institute and HSS.

“Even after a successful recovery, athletes who suffer ACL injuries are at much greater risk of developing osteoarthritis within 20 years than their uninjured peers,” said Joe Janosky, director of the Sports Safety Program at HSS, who explained that coaches who include injury prevention strategies in their training programs are not only helping to preserve the health of their athletes now, but well into the future.

Karen M. Sutton, MD, sports medicine surgeon at HSS, explains that female basketball players are eight times more likely to rupture their ACL than male counterparts. “An ACL injury prevention program can curb that number and help with modifiable risk factors in our youth basketball girls,” she said.

Read the full article at USAToday.com.