Stress Injury to the Bone Among Women Athletes

Abstract

Women's participation and recognition in sports have grown dramatically in the last 30 years, and this trend is expected to continue. In the last decade exciting research has centered on the unique medical and musculoskeletal aspects of the female athlete. Scientists have elucidated significant findings in the area of bone health, amenorrhea, disordered eating, osteoporosis, and stress fractures. Stress fractures are a common problem in female athletes and they appear to occur more commonly in the sacrum, pelvis, and femoral neck. Certain risk factors place women at a greater risk for stress injury to the bone, such as amenorrhea, low calcium intake, disordered eating, bone geometry, and leg length discrepancy. The best treatment for a stress fracture is prevention. Moreover, any woman with a stress fracture must be evaluated for the female athlete triad. Most stress fractures can be treated with relative rest and correction of the underlying factors that contributed to the injury. Certain stress fractures occur in areas of relative hypovascularity and are at risk for nonunion or avascular necrosis. In these cases surgery should be considered.