Injuries to the Female Athlete in 2017: Part I: General Considerations, Concussions, Stress Fractures, and the Female Athlete Triad.

Abstract

* Youth female athletes are more likely to sustain overuse injuries compared with traumatic injuries, and youth male patients are more likely to present following a traumatic injury compared with an overuse injury.* Among high-school athletes, although boys’ football tends to have the overall highest rate of injuries requiring a surgical procedure, among directly comparable sports (soccer, basketball, and baseball or softball), girls generally have a significantly higher rate of injury requiring a surgical procedure, with the knee being the most commonly injured anatomical location.* In sports with similar playing rules, specifically basketball and soccer, the reported incidence of concussion is higher in female athletes compared with male athletes.* The incidence of lower-extremity stress fractures is substantially higher in female athletes, female military personnel, and female runners compared with male athletes, male military personnel, and male runners.* In 2007, the description of the female athlete triad was modified by the American College of Sports Medicine to focus more on the underlying metabolic features of the syndrome, and has more recently been described as the combination of low-energy availability, with or without disordered eating; menstrual dysfunction; and low bone mineral density.