.Persuasive Speech Outline Using the Problem-Cause- Solution Order
CMST 220: Persuasive Speaking
Problem/Solution Organizational Outline
General Purpose: To Persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that knee injury prevention program for all high school female club, select and premier soccer teams in Washington needs to be implemented.
Central Idea: Risk of knee injury for young female soccer players is at an all time high and setting females up for a lifetime of pain, a prevention program needs to be implemented for all high-level female soccer teams during high school ages to solve this problem.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Gain audience attention:
As a parent you enroll your daughter in organized sports and she takes a particular liking to soccer. She eventually begins to play competitively and gets chosen for a premier league team. You may have thought you were doing your daughter a favor setting her up with a healthy lifestyle and a good outlet, when in fact you were informed very little about the long term or short term risks involved with soccer, let alone being informed of how to prevent these risks.
B. Direct audience to need (Why should we care in general?):
Women’s soccer has attracted the most participation growth among US student athletes for a number of years. Every one of the participants faces a high probability of ACL injury. The ACL is called the anterior cruciate ligament and is the middle ligament in your knee joint that prevents the shinbone from sliding out in front of the thighbone. The injury of this ligament makes long-term disability a very real future for many of these young athletes (Lohmander, Ostenber, Englund, Roos).
C. Credibility enhancing material (Why should we listen to you?)
Growing up soccer was my passion. I played competitively until I graduated from high school were I continued to play for fun on co-ed indoor and outdoor teams. I faced many knee problems and watched many of my friends and teammates go through numerous ACL surgeries. Now years later we are still facing the repercussions and pains of the sport. I want to ensure that future generations don’t suffer as I and my friends and soccer players alike have.
D. Preview (What will you be talking about? Be sure not to give away your solution!):
Today I would like to talk to you about a problem, this problem being the severity of high-school females playing soccer and explain how prevalent knee injuries are for young woman soccer players. I will then provide you with a solution to this problem. The public needs to be informed about the risks involved with soccer as an organized sport for the sake of future generations.
Transition:
Taking action could help save future generations from a lifetime of pain
II. BODY
I. Problem Step:
A. Problem: (What, specifically, is the problem? Note: State as a claim)
The problem is that sports teams don’t educate their athletes on the precautionary measures and preventative care routines that are necessary to ensure health and safety for high school aged sports teams.
1. Explanation (What are the elements/causes of the problem?)
The amount of injures prevalent among high school aged females who play soccer is reaching an all time high and is continuously increasing as the participation rates in female sports stays on the rise. This is a frequently researched and discussed problem although there has been very limited action taken to solve or fix the problem. If this continues we are setting future generation up for a life of pain.
a. Support (What evidence supports these elements/causes?)
Magowan in the article Women’s Football: Why are there so many knee injuries? Wrote, “A lot of female foot ballers have poor hamstrings and poor gluteus medius muscles, which are the muscles at the side of the hips that correct the knee and brings it back into alignment. So we work on them on a daily basis.” Just like this team actively works on fixing what contributes to knee injuries our high school aged competitive teams need to do this as well.
b. Support
According to O’Reilly and Cahn authors of “Women and Sports in the United States” the average woman has wider hips causing different angles from the hips to knee and to the foot causing a foot pronation. That is when the foot rotates inwards. All of these variables put more strain on the ligament before jumping or landing ever even takes place. Although many variables contributing to this injury are related to biology the injury always happens upon cutting, jumping or landing meaning there are ways to train the body to preform these measures correctly and to utilize the stronger muscles rather than the ligaments.
2. Who is affected (Why should listeners care about this problem?)
By not providing the proper precautionary training we are putting adolescent females at the highest risk because they are also more prone to the injury than adults and young boys. Also due to the biological make up of the female body, women are at a higher risk of injury than men.
Support (What evidence verifies who is affected?)
According to Lohmander, Ostenber, Englund and Roos in the journal “High Prevalence of Knee Osteoarthritis, Pain and Functional Limitations in Female Soccer Players Twelve Years After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury” “Female soccer players sustain their knee injuries at a younger age, with an average age at injury of 19 years, compared with 23 years for male players.” The estimated number of knee injuries in young girls is also 4-8 times higher than the number of knee injuries for young boys. Reynolds wrote in the article “Phys Ed: Preventing ACL Injuries in Girls”, “although maturing girls sprout in height, they add comparatively little strength, unlike boys. Their center of mass moves higher and they add weight but not the power to control it. They’ve primed themselves for knee damage.”
Support
The ‘Q’ angle is an equation of two measurements between a major muscle in your thigh and a tendon in you knee, and in the article from Reynolds called “Phys Ed: Preventing ACL Injuries in Girls” she writes, that “Orthopedic surgeons insist that the problem is the ‘Q’ angle at the women’s knees” since this angle is responsible for dictating whether there is proper knee alignment. It is also a common consensus among researchers that the root of the problem is that women’s hips are wider, causing improper alignment.
3. Consequences (What will happen if we don’t solve the problem?)
If we don’t start to take more action to prevent these knee injuries in young females we begin to see high injury rates and higher disability rates in older woman. This will only continue to increase as participation in women’s sports continues to increase.
Support (What evidence verifies the consequences predicted?)
According to Lohmander, Ostenber, Englund and Roos in the journal “High Prevalence of Knee Osteoarthritis, Pain and Functional Limitations in Female Soccer Players Twelve Years After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury” ACL knee injuries will have serious short-term consequences “but with onset at a young age, resulting in life-long disability is a reality”. This same study also proved that 12 years after ACL injuries 75% of the participants had symptoms and residual pain that affected every day life related to jobs and activity level.
b. Support
The journal “The Long-term Consequence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament and Meniscus Injuries” by Lohmander, Englund, Dahl, and Roos write that “At 10 to 20 years after the diagnosis, on average 50% of those with a diagnosed anterior cruciate ligament or meniscus tear have osteoarthritis with associated pan and functional impairment: the young patient with an old knee.”
Address the major concern(s) of your opposition
Transition:
Now that we understand the problem let me explain to you how we will implement a program to solve this problem
II. Solution Step:
Solution (How do you propose to solve the problem?)
A preventative program needs to be implemented for all competitive high school aged female soccer teams in Washington that will stop the rate of knee injury in young female athletes from rising.
Explanation (What, specifically, is your plan to solve the problem?)
The best way to resolve this problem is by implementing a knee injury prevention program for all high school aged club, select and premier league teams. This program will require coaches to take a certification class that is organized by the club with a member of the Washington State Orthopaedic Association hosting the class. Upon completion of the program coaches will sign a consent form agreeing to implement this 15-minute training twice a week at the beginning of practice.
a. Element of solution
By implementing this prevention program will be able to reduce the risk of knee injury in young female soccer players and match that of the male athletes. The study “Neuromuscular training to prevent knee injuries in female soccer players” by Wingfield concluded “a short weekly neuromuscular exercise program reduced the rate of ACL injuries among adolescent female football (soccer) players. Those who were compliant with the intervention had fewer severe knee injuries and fewer injuries overall.” This program takes about 15 minutes and uses exercises like 1-2 legged knee squats, pelvic lift, bench, lunge and proper jumping and landing routines.
Element of solution
Gretchen Reynolds author of “How a Warm-Up Routine Can Save Your Knees” from the New York times explains that neuromuscular exercises like teaching athletes how to land, cut, shift directions, plant their legs, and move properly during play have “found that the programs can reduce the number of ACL tears per season by 50 percent or more, particularly among girls, who tear their ACLs at a higher rate than boys do.”
2. Remedy (How will your solution solve the problem?)
By performing neuromuscular exercise weekly we can reduce the number of ACL and knee injuries for high school aged female soccer players.
a. Fit (How does your solution fit with the problem?)
By taking preventative measures to reduce knee injury we can stop many of these injuries from ever happening and increasing overall well being for future generations.
b. Satisfaction (How does your solution satisfy those affected by the problem?)
With this solution being implemented we see a direct correlation to the decrease in the number of injuries for female soccer players by taking the preventative measures at an early age and teaching them the importance of taking care of their bodies. This solution has worked before like I previously stated in the study by Wingfield called “Neuromuscular training to prevent knee injuries in adolescent female soccer players.”
c. Workability (Will your solution work? Is it affordable?)
This may cost each one of the organizations a small fee initially charged by the Washington State Orthopaedic Association but since they are a not for profit organization the club would be able to use the fee as a tax deduction at the end of each year, getting their money back. There may also be a small fee to provide a space for the classes to be held but by increasing the players fees ever so slightly this will be covered, and overall athletes will save money from healthcare costs for immediate surgery, for post surgery sports therapy and for pain management.
Transition:
I encourage you to inform your friends, family, children and coaches and make sure the people around you are taking care of their bodies.
III. Action/Conclusion
A. Action (What, specifically, do you want the audience to do TODAY?)
If you know any young children or high school aged females or soccer coaches, make sure they are aware of how to prevent, a lifetime of pain.
1. Elements of the action
a. Check the statistics for yourself
b. Inform and women soccer players you many know
c. Request action from your coaches or organizations
2. Appropriateness (Why is this action appropriate for your audience?)
It is likely that most of us will have children, if we haven’t already. As a parent it is your duty make sure they are set up for success not for a lifetime of pain.
Audience support (Ask the audience to support the action)
I ask you to help create awareness, help educate the ones you love and the ones around you. Lets make sure we don’t limit future generations from something that could be prevented.
III. CONCLUSION
Signal Ending: In conclusion
Summarize Main Point: Simply partaking in sports doesn’t automatically lead to a healthy lifestyle. The physical long term problems associated with female soccer athletes is real. I have outlined a practical and feasible solution, the plan to achieve that solution and now I am asking you to act.
Central Idea: The risk of knee injury for young female soccer players is at an all-time high and setting females up for a lifetime of pain, a prevention program needs to be implemented for all high-level female soccer teams during high school ages to solve this problem.
Memorable Quote: Action needs to be taken. Please, help set our future generation up for success. John Rachel once said “we hold our dreams and ideals close to our hearts, where the promises are made to the future generations,” Thank you.
Works Cited
ACL Injury and the Female Soccer Player. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2015, from
http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/news/acl_injury_and_the_female_soccer_player/
Lohmander, Ostenberg, Englund, & Roos. (2004). High Prevalence of Knee Osteoarthritis, Pain,
and Functional Limitations in Female Soccer Players Twelve Years After Anterior
Cruciate Ligament Injury. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 50(10), 3145-3152.
doi:10.1002/art.20589
Lohmander, S., Englund, M., Dahl, L., & Roos, E. (2007). The Long-term Consequence of
Anterior Cruciate Ligament and Meniscus Injuries. American Journal of Sports Medicine,
35. doi:10.1177/0363546507307396
Magowan, A. (2014, October 6). Women's football: Why are there so many knee injuries?
Retrieved July 24, 2015.
Reynolds, G. (2014, March 19). How a Warm-Up Routine Can Save Your Knees. New York
Times. Retrieved July 24, 2015, from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/how-a-
warm-up-routine-can-save-your-knees/?_r=1
Reynolds, G. (2009, September 9). Phys Ed: Preventing ACL Injuries in Girls. New York Times.
Retrieved July 24, 2015, from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/phys-ed-
preventing-acl-injuries-in-girls/
Whittaker, J., & Emery, C. (2014). Impact of the FIFA 11 on the structure of select muscles in
adolescent female soccer players. Physical Therapy Insport.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ptsp.2014.10.007
Wingfield. (2013). Neuromuscular training to prevent knee injuries in adolescent female soccer
players. Clin J Sport Med. doi:10.1097/01.jsm.0000433153.51313.6b
