Influência dos hormônios sexuais na frouxidão e lesão do LCA: revisão bibliográfica

Epidemiological studies indicate that women are two to eight times more prone to rupture the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than men when engaged in the same activity. Among the topics utilized to explain such discrepancy is the relationship between female sex hormones peak and the increased ligament laxity. This suggestion has recently being approached, however, results are still controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to perform a review of the influence of the female hormonal oscillation on ACL laxity and injury. A review of the literature was then performed utilizing electronic data bases (MEDLINE, PubMed, PEDro, EMBASE,CINAHL, COCHRANE, LILACS and SciELO) retrospectively until the publication year 1966.This research was executed between January 2007 and October 2007 and no studies were found in the Portuguese language, whereas 19 studies were detected in the English language. Among these studies, only two performed the ACL laxity measurement dynamically, while the others performed this measurement in a static situation by means of the KT instrument. ACL laxity was more often observed on the late follicular and luteal phases. These results were obtained, in the great majority, with a static assessment, thus not completely consistent of ACL injury mechanisms that usually occur in dynamic circumstances. In the studies that utilized post-injury questionnaires and chart assessment, the initial follicular phase was also indicated; however, this finding was based on subjective data, limiting the reliability of such result.