Female Athletes

Two ACL injury prevention programs significantly reduce injury rates among female athletes while improving athletic performance, says a new study.  Experts hope the findings will lead to greater compliance with training and widespread adoption of intervention programs.

Eating disorders affect an estimated 13 to 42% of athletes, depending on sport and gender. The number of reported cases appear to be on the rise as a result of increased public awareness and a greater willingness of athletes to seek treatment.

Implementing a coach-led neuro-muscular warm-up for female high school soccer and basketball players at predominantly low-income, inner city schools is an extremely cost-effective way to reduce the number of non-contact leg injuries, including ACL injuries, among an under-served, at-risk population, a new study finds.

Male athletes are at increased risk of cartilage lesions in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injured knees, placing them at higher risk of developing the debilitating joint condition osteoarthritis (OA), says a new study presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's 2011 Annual Meeting in San Diego.  A delay to reconstructive surgery did not increase the risk of developing full-thickness cartilage lesions, as long as surgery occurred within 12 months of injury. 

Girls who play sports more than 8 hours per week are twice as likely as their less active peers to suffer a stress fracture, a new study finds. Most at risk were those engaged in three activities (running, basketball and cheerleading/gymnastics) which involve repeated jumping and landing which place particuarly high stress on bone, with the risk of injury increasing about 8 percent for each extra hour of activity over four per week.

ACL injury prevention programs for female athletes such as the Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) program have value, despite lingering doubts about their effectiveness raised in a new study. While there is evidence that injury prevention programs may reduce the risk of some knee injuries, additional research in necessary, said the study author.

Female athletes are at signficantly greater risk of ACL injuries than male athletes. Up to now, predicting whether a female athlete was at risk for an ACL injury required expensive and complex laboratory-based motion analysis systems, such as those used in creating video games. Now it will be possible  to predict whether an athlete is high risk for anterior cruciate ligament injuries using a simple, low-cost tool in a doctor's office, report the authors of a new study. 

College cheerleaders are at high risk for body image issues and eating disorders - and may be affected by how revealing their uniforms are, according to a study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's 57th Annual Meeting in Baltimore.