The facts speak for themselves. Female athletes get injured more than male athletes do. A lot more.
Shockingly, depending on the sport, there can be a two- to six-fold difference in some musculoskeletal injuries between female and male athletes. A recent review published by the Canadian Sport for Life movement (CS4L) entitled The Female Athlete Perspective, written by exercise physiologist Dr. Vicki Harber, addresses these and other medical issues known to influence women's participation in sport.
The good news is, most of these conditions can be prevented.
One reason for the higher injury rate says Harber, is that training regimens for female athletes are typically based on research using young adult males and don't take into account the intrinsic biological differences between the sexes.
It's also one of the reasons she says there's a critical need to build awareness about appropriate support for young female athletes. Changes to training programs are necessary to help these athletes on their journey to reaching their athletic and personal potential.
Her review describes a comprehensive model for the nurture and growth of Canada's female athletes, providing guidelines for coaches, athletes, parents and administrators.
Harber, who also serves on the Edmonton Sport Council, and holds a Sport Nutrition diploma from the International Olympic Committee, will often ask colleagues or coaches at conferences, asking, "What are you doing for your female athletes?"
Other than some emphasis on nutrition with enhanced intake of calcium and iron and some training modifications, Harber says the approach wasn't encouraging. "I found it was scattered - definitely not in a package," she says, "or without a comprehensive and holistic approach to the female athlete and in particular of the developing female athlete."
Musculoskeletal injuries, particularly knee (anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and patellofemoral joint injury (PFJ) and shoulder injuries are more prevalent. An ACL injury is not only the most debilitating of sport injuries, it is also considered to be one of the most severe, and, says Harber, "Once an ACL injury occurs, there is increased risk for another one simply by having the first one." She adds, "There are acute and chronic costs - not just the medical cost - but the psychosocial cost where the athlete is sidelined for months, maybe up to a year."
Several ACL-injury prevention programs have been developed and are showing terrific success in reducing these injuries by 50 to 80 percent. Not only do these programs reduce injury, they are also associated with improved performance.
In addition to the greater risk of musculoskeletal injury, Harber says the risk of the Female Athlete Triad - three separate but interrelated conditions of disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis - highlights another area that needs attention for young female athletes. Each of these conditions is cause for concern but the combination of the three may be lethal.
It's a situation that cannot be ignored in the face of compelling data, says Harber. "When we look at these medical conditions from a mechanistic point of view, it's clear in terms of understanding how the female athlete can get into trouble: it's largely energetically or nutritionally-based."
To that end, she says, "We need to fuel our athletes properly. It's not just about the physical performance in her sport. Fuelling the female athlete leads to healthy reproductive performance as well; that's good for reasons associated with her bones and overall wellbeing."
Along with proper nutrition Harber says physical literacy is crucial. That means all kids - girls and boys - across the abilities spectrum, need to be exposed to a full range of basic movement patterns - running, jumping, throwing, kicking, catching, striking, slipping, sliding - in a variety of environments such as on the ground, in the air, in the water, on ice and snow and in the outdoors. These fundamental movement patterns are required in all physical activities - instruction in these skills in different environments promote positive physical activity habits for life. For the young female athlete, knowledgeable instructors or coaches can detect technical deficiencies and correct movement patterns at an early age which may prevent future injury.
The reality is that kids are funnelled into specific sports at an early age so kids learn only the skills for one sport to the detriment of others. "We specialise and sequester children into a specific sport too soon," Harber says. "Prior to the age of 14 we should not have children locked into any sport per se. If we're really trying to embrace the CS4L message it really is about exposing all Canadians to activities which will be lasting and be part of their fibre that they know how to do from when they're very young and can always draw on for the rest of their lives."
"If we were to withhold labelling kids under the age of 14, such as - 'I'm a hockey player,' or 'I'm a swimmer, etc.' and have this cross-pollination of (movement skills) as the mandate, and build the athlete first through physical literacy and build the sport player later, our athletes would be better served."
"Then, as natural abilities emerge and are developed, children can participate in the decision about the sport they wish to pursue" says Harber.
Implementing a comprehensive, holistic, long term athlete development model - and one that uniquely fuels, trains and nurtures the female athlete optimally, is Harber's greatest wish. Though she knows the going will be slow, she's hopeful that the physical literacy piece of the plan will be implemented school-wide by 2020.
Dr. Harber is an award winning educator and was a two-time Olympian in rowing. In addition to being a leading Canadian researcher in exercise physiology with a special interest in the female athlete, she has put her unique knowledge of coaching and understanding of young female athletes into practice, nurturing a girls' soccer team. The results have been nothing short of spectacular.
Read about Dr. Harber's work with the team here: http://www.physedandrec.ualberta.ca/news.cfm?story=62249
More information
Dr. Harber's paper, The Female Perspective can be downloaded here in PDF format.
CS4L (Canadian Sport For Life) website: http://www.canadiansportforlife.ca/