Thursday, May 15, 2008
ATHLETIC INJURIES
So today's lecture was about ACL injuries and it was disturbing and overwhelming. The information is interesting, but whenever I think about it, I have the chills. It's obvious that female athletes have the highest rate of ACL injuries than male athletes. There are many factors associated with this; female athletes have smaller body mass, low weight gain, etc. than male. Male athletes in general have greater strength than female athletes. Men are built to be strong. ACL injuries are more common in female athletes because of the sports they participate in; sports like basketball, soccer, volleyball, and cross country are good examples of higher ACL injuries among female athletes. These type of sports are intense. This is one of the biggest factors affecting female athletes in the past and even today's society. I thought it was interseting that hormones have a lot to do with ACL injuries. I never knew that. I guess its because I never experience it before when I participated sports back in high school; I mainly experience bruises. I do feel that female athletes should think of the consequences with the sports that may be associated with ACL injuries or any major type of injuries before they decide to join because of the high cost of medical attention. There are many risk factors with joining sports beside ACL injuries such as the female athlete triad that we discussed in class last thursday with the disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction (amennorrhea), and decrese in bone density (osteoporosis). I think that female athletes should consider focusing on sports that are less likely to cause ACL injuries or any major type of injuries; sports like badminton, golf, etc. where it doesnt require that much movement compared to basketball, soccer, and cross country. These type of sports may be boring for a lot of people out there, but it save you a lot of money because you don't have to go through the surgeries and stuff. Because the increase of female participation in sports, ACL injuries are very common in today's society.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
To comment on your posting...
In the reading that was assigned there was plenty of studies done to evaluate the physical differences in men and women in terms of many different factors, and most were inconclusive. Although the resulting numbers are far more directed toward women than are men, studies included intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors resulted in unclear and insignificant evidence. Intrinsic factors are based upon the structure of the knee in comparison to the ACL. Anatomical differences in men and women, in the strength of the femor ,ligaments, and muscles that support the knee were compared as well, however, findings remained unclear. Extrinsic factors included, the type of surface played, musculature of men and women, and findings have not been significant. Throughout this entire article there were many studies, however not even one showed any significant evidence that conveyed any type of factor to say "women, you should not play these sports because you will tear your ACL." Women should play the sports they love, with any type of activity there is ALWAYS a risk of being injured. Even with walking there exists a risk. However, everyone should take the necessary precautions within there activity or sport to avoid injury as much as possible.
Brandon Long
kin 2-315pm tues/thursday
I don't think that stopping women from playing sports like basketball, soccer, and cross country running is the answer. Just because there is a high prevalence of ACL injuries in these sports should not be a determining factor as to if a girl wants to play a sport. With sport comes injuries, some more serious than others. If male athletes were playing football and kept tearing their ACL's the solution would not be for them to stop playing football, but rather find factors that cause these injuries. Besides, ACL injuries do not just occur in these sports. As for the female athlete triad, again preventing girls to play sports because of the fear that they will develop eating disorders or osteoperosis should not be a determining factor for someone to play the sports. If that were true, ballet, figure skating and gymnastics would have to be avoided to because of the high prevalence of the triad. Yes, there are many obstacles facing female athletes, but avoidance is not the answer.
Erin G. S.6 TTH 9:30
Post a Comment