Q: What sports have the highest injury risks for women ?
A: In, general injury trends among women, are similar to those among men. Within Collegiate sports, the following seem most likely to be associated with injuries:
Basketball
Gymnastics
Soccer
Volleyball
Softball
Q: Which joints are women most likely to injury ?
A: Usually trends in injuries, are due to the sport itself, and have little to do with gender. Once again, trends are very similar to those seen in male athletes. In Collegiate sports, the following joints are most likely to be injured:
Ankle (sprains) iii>LI>Knee injury
Lumbar Spine [low back]
Upper Extremity [shoulder, elbow]
Nonetheless, there are certain injuries that appear more commonly among female athletes:
Tennis Elbow (lateral epicondylitis) appears to be much more common among 40-60 year old females
Injuries to the Anterior Cruciate Ligament of the knee are more common among female handball and basketball players than among their male cohort.
In one study, Patella-Femoral syndrome affected 20% of female athletes, but only 7.4% of males.
Some studies show Recurrent patellar dislocation is six times more common among women than men
In some studies, well trained female athletes were found to be 1.3 to 2.4 times more likely than a male athlete to sustain a severe knee injury. Untrained female athletes had it worse, being 4.8 to 5.8 times more likely to injure the knee. The studies showed that ACL injuries could be prevented by encouraging specific training of the hamstrings. In addition, women often take longer to heal when the injury does occur. This may be directly related to the hormone estrogen, which may decrease the synthesis of collagen fibers (which make up the ligaments).
On the bright side however, women may be less likely to suffer from muscle overuse injuries such as Achilles tendinitis.
Q: Is it safe for a woman to continue to exercise during pregnancy ? Which exercise are best. Are there any exercises women should not do while pregnant ?
A: In general, exercise is a very good thing for women both leading up to and during pregnancy.
A recent study of 200 women, showed that women who began a regular program of aerobic exercise before pregnancy, and continued to exercise throughout had no increased difficulty in conceiving normally and carrying a baby to term.
Furthermore, there may be many beneficial effects of exercise. In general exercising women had a lower risk of operative delivery (ceserean section or forceps). In addition, exercising women often had a shorter labour.
Following delivery, exercising women often make a more speedy recovery. And, teh children of exercising mothers may have less body fat at birth.
Despite the many benefits, it is important to be cautious. As with any exercise program, it is important to progress slowly to aboid injury. Furtermore, it is wise to avoid any sport which presents a high risk of abdominal trauma. Sports such as sky-diving, equestrian, and competitive martial arts should probably wait untill after delivery.
Remember, it's always a good idea to speak with your physician when making changes to your exercise program.
Pregnancy can in fact facilitate exercise, as tendinitis tends to improve during pregnancy. Several of the following changes may occur leading to decreased tendinitis:
Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH) is produced by the placenta, which results in increases in Adrenocorticotropin Hormone (ACTH). This increases adrenal activity and serum cortisol levels. Cortisol in turn may have beneficial effects on tendinitis.
Estrogen and Progesterone may alter the functional protein levels in the synovial fluid.
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) produces immunosuppresion.
Relaxin, an insulin like growth factor, produces a relaxation of collagen fibers.
In contrast, Prolactin appears to enhance inflammatory response. Apparently, the above factors tend to override the inflammatory response produce by prolactin.
Q: How does exercise act to prevent osteporosis in women ? What exercises are best for preventing osteoporsis ?
A: There is considerable evidence that exercise can help to prevent the loss of bone mass called osteoporsis. However, it is also known that not all atheletes will definately benefit to the same extent.
In general weight bearing exercises such as weight lifting, and running are best to promote bone growth. From a biologic point of view it appears that bone itself reacts to stress by growing new bone structure, and thus becoming stronger. However, the benefit of exercise may be limited to the exact bones which experiance the weight stress. That is, in runners, the beneficial effects may be limited to the bones of the legs. In addition, the actual magnitude of the difference amy be small.
Furthermore, in elite atheletes, the improvement is not always noticeable. The reason is this: elite female atheletes may stop having normal menstrual cycles due to the stress of training and competition. In these women, the benefit of exercise for bone growth may be overriden by the disadvantage of low estrogin in the body. For these women, bone loss may be greater than in the sedentary but menstruating woman. Women who have low body fat, and train intesively may be victims of the "female athlete triad":
Disordered eating habits
Abnormal or absent menstrual cycle
Osteoporosis resulting from #1 and #2 above
Overall, exercise has so many benefits, that nearly everone will benefit from a regular exercise program. Although exercise may lead to a decrease in osteoporosis, the benefit may not be as great, nor as universal as previously thought.
Q: As a women mountain bike racer, what can I do to minimize my chance of injury?
A: Injury patters among female MTB racing are slightly different than among males. In particular, females are more likely to be injured, more likely to sustain a fracture, and more likely to be injured due to loss of bicycle control.
Thus, in addition to the usual precautions of safety gear, etc. Females in particular may benefit from the following interventions.
Practice Technical Skills: women are more likely than men to crash due to loss of bicycle control.
Practice Descending Technique: Most crashes occur on the downhill portion of the course.
Consider Weight Bearing activity (running/strength training) in addition to cycling: women are more likely to sustain a fracture than men (about 4x more likely). This may be due to poor bone density. Bone density is increased by weight bearing activity; cycling is not a weight bearing activity. It is possible that weight bearing activities may encourage bone growth and prevent fractures. This makes theoretical sense, but has not been proven.
Know the Course: Women have a particularily high injury rate for DS events. Knowledge of the course may lead to better bicycle control and decreased injury.