Gender Differences: Considerations for the Female Endurance Athlete

Abstract

Over the last 40 years, women’s participation in endurance events has grown exponentially. With the rapid growth in this field, more injuries and medical conditions have come to light. Due to anatomical and physiological differences between men and women, women have to deal with different medical conditions than their male counterparts. Iron depletion and subsequent anemia are common conditions seen in women and even more so in the female athlete population. Stress urinary incontinence, a condition that was once felt to affect primarily elderly and parous women, is seen frequently in the female endurance athlete. Overtraining syndrome has been identified in just as many women as men today. Exercise-associated collapse, the most common medical condition seen at the medical tent of endurance events, also affects women differently than men. Finally, the female athlete triad and its newer descriptive name, relative energy deficiency in sport, are being recognized far more commonly. Poor energy availability, menstrual dysfunction, osteoporosis, and the end result of many of these processes, stress fractures, are common medical conditions that are diagnosed far more frequently in the female endurance athlete than the general population or a similar cohort of male athletes. As participation continues to increase in female endurance events and the distances continue to increase as well, it is imperative for sports medicine clinicians to understand these medical conditions affecting female endurance athletes and to be comfortable in both their recognition and treatment.