Girl Athletes, Sports Injuries and Quality Coaches

As a follow up to last week's post, I was just reading an article in the Asheville Citizen Times, "Programs aim to help female athletes lower risk of sports injuries," and it reminded me of the additional risk girls and female athletes face with regard to knee injuries.  ACL injuries -- damage to the anterior cruciate ligament that stabilizes the knee -- are 4 to 6 times more common in female athletes than males, according to this article.

The main reason for ACL injuries in females is structural: wider hips means that knees turn in more, which causes problems when pivoting or jumping in sports like soccer, lacrosse or basketball. Hormones are also thought to play a role in the predominance of ACL injuries to girls, as well as lack of development of the supporting muscles, especially hamstrings.

Aside from the physical basis for injuries to female athletes is an underlying problem: the scarcity of coaches. This is an issue across the board in youth sports. However, with the boom in girls' sports over the past 20 years, the lack of quality coaches is putting female athletes at additional risk. Coaches who understand the mechanics of developmental issues for girls can work to prevent unnecessary ACL injuries, female triad issues or second impact (concussion) syndrome.  Coaches who are not properly trained, or who are not sensitive to the particular needs of their players -- whether male or female -- only exacerbate the potential for injury.

Coaches education and parental involvement is needed more than ever to keep pace with the millions of girls and boys involved in sports. The more we know, the more we can help our kids stay injury-free and safe on the playing field. That continues to be my story and I'm sticking to it.