Title IX created opportunities for women in sports and recreation in 1972. Now, over three million girls participate in high school sports in the United States, and almost a quarter million women play college sports.
Men and women deserve equal access to sports and recreation, and it is also important to gain a better understanding of the differences between male and female bodies. Girls are more likely to sustain overuse injuries like ankle sprains in soccer, softball, and track and field due to physical and hormonal differences. However, with knowledge and attention, female athletes can take it upon themselves to prevent injuries.
How female athletes can prevent foot and ankle injuries
Female athletes can empower themselves with education and awareness before, during, and after exercise.
Take these steps to reduce the risk of an injury and stay in the game:
- Rest and recover between workouts. Do not overuse muscles or joints; be aware of when you are feeling tired or need a break.
- Perform dynamic stretching before exercise and static stretching after exercise.
- Prepare by participating in endurance training before the start of the season.
- Eat a healthy and varied diet, and eat enough to sustain your daily activities along with exercise. Also, be sure to hydrate before, during, and after practice.
- Track your menstrual cycle so you know if you are having a regular period, as well as when your estrogen levels are high or low.
- Learn how to land properly while jumping.
- If necessary, wear semi-rigid or rigid ankle braces to prevent ankle sprains. Rigid supports will protect the ankle from rolling.
It’s important to know the risks of sports injury and how to prevent them. With this knowledge, girls and women can play and compete with strength and endurance.
What puts female athletes at risk for injuries?
Landing flatfooted
In sports, landing is a common event. The way an athlete lands can either support or damage the bones and ligaments in the lower extremities.
Women tend to land on the sole rather than the balls of their feet after a jump due to the structure of their hips and knee alignment, putting a shock of pressure on the foot, ankle, knee, and hip. The bones absorb the high impact, rather than the muscles, leading to problems such as joint pain, arthritis, fractures, and more.
Wider hip structure
After puberty, girls’ hip structures expand, increasing the ratio between the width of the hips and changing the alignment to the knees and ankles. The angle of the femur meeting the tibia is changed as well.
This difference in width can exacerbate high-impact movements such as jumps if performed incorrectly, placing considerable stress on the bones and joints. The landing forces the foot roll out, which can cause ankle sprains or tears.
More flexible ligaments
Women are naturally more flexible than men. This is beneficial in some ways, but hyperflexibility can be detrimental to the joints and ligaments. Flexibility can be particularly dangerous during motions that require excess joint rotations or overextending a joint, such as in ballet.
Imbalanced quadricep/hamstring strength
Another issue that women experience in athletics is the difference in their quadriceps and hamstring strength. Typically, female athletes do not have strong hamstrings compared to their quadriceps, leading to a muscle imbalance that places stress on the joints and ligaments.
During puberty, girls grow taller and gain weight as their bones and muscles develop. The ratio of muscle development to body size is increased, placing women at a greater risk for injury.
Hormones
Estrogen is a fantastic hormone for building bone strength, healing from injury, and more. Both men and women have varying levels of estrogen in their bodies. However, estrogen also weakens ligaments, as shown by a study that found that ACL injuries were more common in phases with high estrogen levels during the menstrual cycle.
Lack of proper nutrition and fueling
Societal pressures for thinness have increased dieting and eating disorders in teenage girls and women, putting them at risk of improper nutrition intake. This is not only psychologically and emotionally harmful, but it also affects the healing and repair of bones, muscles, and tissue. Dieting is even more harmful for highly active female athletes: decreasing calories while participating in high-energy sports also weakens the body and puts girls in a position for injuries.
High arched feet
High arched feet are commonly inherited at birth, although it can be developed later in life. Of the 20% of people with high arched feet in the population, over two-thirds are women.
High arches can lead to excess weight on the ball and heel of the foot, as well as foot rigidity. Rigidity places higher stress on the foot and ankle compared to more flexible feet, leading to potential ankle problems.
Potential for injuries is linked to the menstrual cycle
Female athletes are more prone to injuries during certain phases of the menstrual cycle. The ovulatory phase in particular leads to more injuries, in which estrogen is highest throughout the menstrual cycle.
Female athletes are also more prone to experiencing menstrual irregularities than nonathletes due to high levels of activity and improper nutrition, which negatively affects the entire musculoskeletal system. In fact, female athletes who have irregular periods are three times as likely to experience an injury compared to athletes with a normal period. Irregular menstrual cycles can also cause issues like low bone mineral density, decreased immunity, decreased cardiovascular health, and more. Because of this, it is especially important for female athletes to properly fuel before and after sports and take rests as necessary.
Also, girls and women who take oral contraceptives may affect their bone density and strength by lowering their estrogen levels, putting them at risk for injuries like ankle fractures.
Despite the risks, women continue to succeed in sports.
Women have been breaking the glass ceiling in professional and personal spheres for centuries.
That includes sports, too.
Kathrine Switzer defied gender expectations in 1967 when she ran in the Boston Marathon as the first women participant, running past race officials as they tried to pull her out.
Serena Williams has won 23 Grand Slam women’s singles titles in tennis.
Simone Biles is the role model for the next generation of female athletes, is thought to be one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. She won three World all-around titles before 2016 and, in the 2018 Olympics, won all five gold medals.
There may be limitations, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be surpassed.
“The only person who can stop you from reaching your goals is you.” — Jackie Joyner-Kersee, retired track and field athlete and winner of three Olympic gold medals
Want to learn more about what you can do to prevent injury?
Dr. Frankel founded Frankel Foot & Ankle to provide patients in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey tri-state area with the latest advances in diagnostic technology and treatment for sports medicine conditions, foot and ankle trauma response and innovative surgical and regenerative approaches. Contact Frankel Foot & Ankle today.
