Twist and Shout by Stephen Fraser

Preventing dreaded knee injuries in young athletes Anne Montalto was playing in a preseason soccer game in July 2009 when it happened. She had run down the side of the field, moving into position to receive the ball from a midfielder. Coming to a stop, she planted her left foot and turned her body to get the ball. Ow! A sharp pain shot through her left knee. She fell to the ground. Courtesy of Anne Montalto "After the injury, I just followed the trainer's instructions-icing and elevating my leg," says Anne. "My emotional reaction was that I just wanted to get on the field. When my leg felt better, I tried to play again, but the pain came back. "Anne's physician sent Anne for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test. The images revealed a torn ligament in her left knee. A ligament is a strip of fibrous tissue that crosses a joint, connecting two bones. "When the torn knee ligament was confirmed by the MRI, I was very, very sad," she says. "I knew that I would miss my whole freshman high school soccer season. "The injury Anne experienced isn't unusual for young female athletes. It is something they dread, though, often requiring surgery and a lengthy recovery period. It's also something that medical researchers are studying in an effort to prevent so many girls from suffering. Muscle Development Any sport that involves pivoting, jumping, sudden stops, or quick changes in direction increases the risk of harm to the ligament that Anne injured. That ligament is called the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It's one of four major ligaments that hold the knee joint together, connecting the femur (thighbone) to the tibia(shinbone). An estimated 90,000 high school and college athletes in the United States suffer ACL

injuries every year. Female athletes are particularly vulnerable to ACL injuries, says Timothy Hewett, a professor of sports.

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Twist and Shout -medicine at the Ohio State University. Hewett examined hours of video of athletes in action to learn how ACL injuries happen. What he discovered is an imbalance in the way that boys and girls use their muscles.Courtesy of Timothy Hewett

During puberty, boys experience a greater increase in muscular strength than girls do. When boys play certain sports, they tend to rely on the muscles at the back of their buttocks and legs and to flex their knees when they jump. Because girls' muscles aren't as strong as boys' muscles, girls rely more on the muscles at the front of their legs and tend

to land with their legs straight. "That puts additional stress on the knee joints," says Hewett. That extra stress can cause the knees to collapse inward, tearing the ACL. Girls are also more susceptible to ACL injuries because they have smaller intercondylar notches than boys do. Those are spaces within knees where the ACL and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) cross. A mildly torn ACL may heal by itself, but a major tear requires surgery. The injured ACL is replaced with a tendon taken from the patient's body or from a cadaver. (A tendon is a band of tissue that connects a muscle to a bone.) Torn ligaments cannot be replaced with a patient's other ligaments, because they're all crucial in their various locations. Anne was in surgery for only two hours, and she was able to return home the same day. Her recovery period was much longer, though: six months of physical therapy to restore strength and stability. Strengthening Program Hewett has used his data to design an exercise program to prevent ACL injuries. Anne wasn't aware of Hewett's program before she injured herself, but she learned about it during her recovery. The program, she says, focused on strengthening her quadriceps, hamstrings, and core muscles. The quadriceps are four large muscles at the front of the thigh. The hamstrings are three muscles at the back of the thigh. And the core muscles are in the area of the belly and the mid and lower back. "I also worked on balance, jumping and landing softly, and making sure my body was in the right position," says Anne. "I continue to use those exercises as part of my warm-up for soccer training and soccer games. I have incorporated the exercises into my routine, so it doesn't feel like I'm doing extra exercises. I just know I'm doing really good exercises!" For people who don't have access to his exercise regime, Hewett recommends a properly supervised program of plyometrics. Plyometrics are high intensity exercises that ReadWorks.orgCopyright © 2009 Weekly Reader Corporation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Weekly Reader is a registered trademark of Weekly Reader Corporation.

Twist and Shout -involve jumping and bounding movements. "Jumping on and off a box can also help," he says. Some experts claim that playing sports all year increases the odds of ACL injuries. Not so, says Hewett. "Nor does alternating the sports an athlete plays during a year help to prevent ACL injuries," he adds. Anne, now 16, is playing soccer again year-round. Her schedule is rigorous, training four to five days and playing one or two games a week. "I feel great and have had no decrease in performance," she says. "In fact, I may be in better

condition due to the great training and instruction that I received ."Knee Brace Four major ligaments support the knee, the body's largest joint, restraining movement between the upper and lower leg bones. Source: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons/University of Connecticut Health Center; MCTReadWorks.orgCopyright © 2009 Weekly Reader Corporation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Weekly Reader is a registered trademark of Weekly Reader Corporation.

ReadWorks Vocabulary – elevate

elevate el · e · vate Advanced Definition transitive verb1. to raise or lift up to a higher physical position.Her doctor told her she should elevate her legs.In the final scene, the stagehands will elevate the platform that the actor stands on.2. to raise or promote to a higher level or status.Music always elevates his spirits.She was elevated recently to the rank of full professor.3. to improve the cultural, intellectual, or moral level of.Somewhat arrogantly, he hoped to elevate her taste in literature.The moralistic readings were intended to elevate the minds of the students.4. to increase in degree or volume.A diet high in saturated fat is likely to elevate one's cholesterol.They wrapped the shivering child in blankets in order to elevate his body temperature.Spanish cognateelevar: The Spanish word elevar means elevate.

These are some examples of how the word or forms of the word are used:

1. Elevate your vision. Don't fixate on the taillights in front of you. Instead, look up and ahead-at least 10 car lengths-to anticipate situations before they develop.2. "Venice is in a delicate situation," says Giovanni Mazzacurati, the president of the New Venice Consortium. "Should parts of [the city] be elevated in a different way, this would cause the city to crumble."3. I stated these facts to show to the British public how difficult it is for a colored man in this country to do anything to elevate himself or his race from the state of degradation in which they are plunged; how

difficult it is for him to be virtuous or temperate, or anything but a menial, an outcast. 4. In the spring of 1965, King's elevated profile drew international attention to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had organized a voter registration campaign. Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Selma and take part in a march to Montgomery led by King and supported by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973), who sent in federal troops to keep the peace.ReadWorks.org · © 2020 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.Definitions and sample sentences within definitions are provided by Wordsmyth. © 2015 Wordsmyth. All rights reserved.

ReadWorks Vocabulary - rigorous rig · or · ous Advanced Definition adjective1. showing strictness or sternness.The soldiers were kept to a rigorous military regimen.2. harsh or severe.Life is precarious in the rigorous arctic climate.3. thoroughly accurate; precise. The equipment must meet rigorous specifications.

These are some examples of how the word or forms of the word are used:

1. Her schedule is rigorous, training four to five days and playing one or two games a week.2. The landing presented problems that could not be compared directly to anything done before. But thanks to the rigorous work of hundreds of engineers, NASA ended up making a new mark on Mars.3. There is no satisfying a truly rigorous team of scientists. In designing solutions that meet every project constraint and push research to instructive new territory, it's necessary to keep asking questions and keep redesigning experimentation, even after a seemingly satisfactory solution has been achieved.

4. "Many teens don't realize the rigorous training required of extreme sports athletes," says Dr. George Russell, spokesperson for the AAOS. He notes that athletes who compete in the X Games and Olympics spend years working their way up to the gravity-defying stunts they perform on TV.5. Knights were hardworking warriors who received land from a noble in return for protection. Knights went through rigorous training that included three main phases.

Twist and Shout - Comprehension Questions

1.Review the graphic of the knee in the passage.

Which action could cause an ACL injury?

A. taking off in a jumpB. rapid change of directionC. straightening the leg too quicklyD. slowly stopping

2.What does Timothy Hewett suggest in his exercise program for female athletes to do to prevent the problem of ACL injuries?

A. lengthening muscles and building flexibility with yoga and pilatesB. strengthening the quadriceps, hamstrings and core muscles with plyometricsC. building stamina through running increasing distances over a period of timeD. burning extra calories through intense cardio activities like biking and running

3.Which of the following conclusions about Anne Montalto is supported by the passage?

A. Anne was unable to continue playing high school soccer after her injuryB. Anne's training and instruction during her recovery led to her improved physical conditionC. Alternating the sports she plays could have prevented her knee injury from occurringD. Anne did plyometrics regularly before her injury occurred

4.Read the following sentences and answer the question below: "Female athletes are particularly vulnerable to ACL injuries, says Timothy Hewett, a professor of sports medicine at the Ohio State University. What does the word vulnerable mean in this context?

A. unbeatableB. protectedC. at riskD. closed off

Twist and Shout - Comprehension Questions

5.The primary purpose of this passage is to describe

A. the experience of five soccer teammates that had ACL injuries

B. the exercise program of Timothy Hewett as he tries to prevent hamstring injuries

C. the anatomy of the leg to explain how ACL tears occur in female athletes and not male athletes

D. the reason that ACL injuries hurt more girls than boys and how they can be prevented

6.What did Anne Montalto do immediately to treat her knee injury?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.Why might female soccer players be particularly vulnerable to ACL injuries?

_________________________________________________________________________

8.The question below is an incomplete sentence. Choose the word that best completes the sentence.

When Anne found out she had an ACL injury, she was sad _________ she knew she would miss her freshman high school soccer season.

A. because

B. but

C. so

D. yet

When the Empire State Building Was New

Today, New York's Empire State Building is one of the most famous structures in the world. It stands hundreds of feet taller than the skyscrapers that surround it, and is visible from far away in New Jersey and Long Island. But it isn't the tallest building in the world. In fact, since the recent completion of One World Trade Center, it isn't even the tallest building in New York City!

But when the Empire State Building was constructed, it was more than just another skyscraper. It was the tallest, most remarkable building on the earth—and it stayed that way for close to forty years. To understand what people thought about the Empire State Building when it was first

constructed, we can look at original newspaper reports from The New York Times. These are called primary sources, because they were written by people who witnessed history first-hand. With these New York Times reports, we can see the building through the eyes of the past, and perhaps have a chance to appreciate this most famous skyscraper as though it were new.

* * *

The Empire State Building was built at the site of the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a lavish structure that, by 1929, was no longer up to the demands of the modern world. A corporation headed by former New York governor Alfred E. Smith proposed to build an office building there—not just any office building, but the greatest in the world. At this time, there was fierce competition to see who could build the tallest building on the earth. The nearby Chrysler Building was set to claim the title, but Smith and his company wanted to steal it from them, by building something so big that it would be years before anyone could top it.

There was just one little problem: the Great Depression. The stock market crashed at the end of 1929, destroying banks, emptying savings accounts and leaving millions out of work. But the men behind the Empire State Building would not be stopped. They finished tearing down the old Waldorf-Astoria by the beginning of 1930, and on March 17—St. Patrick's Day—the work on the skyscraper began.

"Time was an essential element," wrote Smith, to complete "the greatest structural accomplishment" the city had ever seen.

Because height was of the utmost importance, the building was designed from the top down. At the very top would be a "dirigible mooring mast." A dirigible is a kind of giant blimp, built to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in the days before jets. Although now that may seem silly, at the time, dirigibles were cutting edge technology, and the mooring mast, according to Smith, was "a logical development of this day of air transportation." Moreover, the 200-foot mast would allow the building to solidly surpass the Chrysler Building in height.

The mooring mast was planned to reach nearly 1,300 feet above Fifth Avenue. Below that was the building—as wide as a city block on the first floor, but narrower as it went up. The places where it got narrower are called "setbacks," and they started at the sixth floor, a design the architects said, "will save space and assure light and air to neighbors."

"We believe we have solved the problem of light and air in congested districts," said Mr. Smith.

Construction began on the bottom floors even before the designs for the top floors had been finalized. Once it started, it went fast. Times reporter C. G. Poore described the process as "a chase up into the sky, with the steel workers going first and all the other trades following madly after them." To illustrate this, Poore produced "some staggering figures":

The building of the skyscraper represents an investment of $50,000,000 and all other figures are in proportion. More than 50,000 tons of steel, 10,000,000 bricks, and 200,000 cubic feet of stone will be used before the frame is completed. There will be seventy-five miles of water mains and

2,000,000 feet of electric light and power wiring...More than 3,000 men are daily at work...Among them are 225 carpenters, 290 bricklayers, 384 brick laborers, 328 arch laborers, 107 derrick men.

Each day, those men walked to work past long unemployment lines, which reminded them how lucky they were to have such well-paying jobs. Building the Empire State Building was a dangerous job, performed without hardhats, harnesses, or any of the safety equipment required today. Imagine walking out on a narrow steel beam, 1,000 feet above the street, and then having to work up there all day!

On each floor, Poore tells us, there was "a miniature railway system," to haul the steel, wood and marble brought up from street level. And to keep the men from having to go all the way down to eat lunch, there were "restaurants at various levels of the building" designed for the workers. At night, when the bosses went home, the workers could relax. They would pick a specific floor of the building and throw a party—laughing and having fun, knowing that they were higher above the city than any of the richest men in town.

* * *

The building was finished in just over a year. Of all the words written afterwards, perhaps the most interesting come from Mrs. Alice Liddell Hargreaves, an elderly English woman who visited the tower soon after its completion. Seventy years earlier, Mrs. Hargreaves had known a quiet country pastor named Lewis Carroll, who used her as the inspiration for his most famous book: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Now much older than the character she inspired, Mrs. Hargreaves "seemed almost as excited with her newest adventures in the wonderland of New York."

The Empire State Building, she said, was "just like the tumble down [the] rabbit hole."

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inspiration in · spi · ra · tion 1. Advanced Definition 2. Spanish Cognate 3. Examples

Advanced Definition

noun

1. an action, thought, person, or other influence that motivates or uplifts.

2. something that is inspired or inspiring, such as an idea.

3. the act of breathing in; inhaling.

Spanish cognate

inspiración: The Spanish word inspiración means inspiration.

These are some examples of how the word or forms of the word are used:

1. Like many legends, this story could be looked back upon for inspiration and guidance. It taught people that they could rely on the gods, but needed to be strong willed. And it let them know ‐

that they would make mistakes, but must learn from them. 2. “I had never been a huge fan of traditional school, and I didn’t really care about my education,”

says student Hannah Smith, 18. The Walden Project made a big difference. “Being outdoors automatically makes me happier and more focused. I take so much inspiration from nature.

Now I care about my education, and I’m excited to learn,” she says. 3. Scientists use many different techniques and resources to develop solutions—these include

induction, ideas from other fields and research, their own creativity, mathematical calculations, and whatever else they may have access to. The inspiration for new and elegant solutions can come from an unexpected place. Just as artists look to the world around them for creative

stimulation, scientists often take cues from the environment. 4. She and a national restaurant chain also collected more than a million books in three months. "I

hope that I can give an adult the inspiration to teach a child to read or [give] a child the resources he or she needs," said Hill.

comprehension Questions

Show/Hide All Answers

Answer 1. Which of the following statements is true about the Empire State Building when it

was built?

1. It was the tallest building in London.

2. It was the tallest building on earth.

3. It was the first building built in New York City.

4. It was the only building made out of steel.

2. The passage explains the sequence of events that led to the completion of the Empire State Building. According to the passage, what happened after construction

was started on the Empire State Building?

1. The Great Depression started.

2. The Chrysler Building was completed.

3. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was torn down.

4. The design for the top floors was finalized.

3. Working on the Empire State Building was a dangerous job.

Which evidence from the text best supports this conclusion?

1. There were restaurants at various levels of the building designed for the

workers.

2. The workers were well paid.

3. The workers would throw a party at night when the bosses went home.

4. The men worked on narrow beams 1,000 feet above the street.

4. The Empire State Building was built during the Great Depression. Why might this

have been a problem? 1. It might have been more difficult to find enough workers to build the Empire

State Building during the Great Depression.

2. It might have been more difficult to find a location to build the Empire State

Building during the Great Depression.

3. It might have been more difficult to find enough money to build the Empire State Building during the Great Depression.

4. It might have been more difficult to find enough steel to build the Empire

State Building during the Great Depression.

Answer

5. What is the passage mainly about?

1. New York City in the 1930s

2. how to build skyscrapers safely

3. the tallest buildings in the world today

4. the construction of the Empire State Building

Answer 6. Why did the author most likely include Mrs. Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s quote

about the Empire State Building in the passage?

1. to prove the point that the ___________________was not very impressive when it was ___________.

2. to show that the __________________ were more impressed by the

Empire State Building than Americans were

3. to provide the perspective of someone who had seen the ____________________ when it was new

Answer 7. Choose the answer that best completes the sentence below. Even though there are taller buildings now, the Empire State Building ______ lost the

ability to amaze.

1.

2.

3.

4.

8. What time period does most of the information in the article come from?

(written answer)_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. “Each day, those men walked to work past long unemployment lines, which reminded them how lucky they were to have such well-paying jobs.”

What conclusions about the Great Depression can you draw from this evidence?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(written answer)

10. The Empire State Building would have been impressive if it were built at any time. What about the time period in which it was built made it even more

impressive? Use information from the passage to support your answer.

(written answer)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________