Men And Women In The Sports Medicine Community

A major issue facing the sports medicine community is the lack of research done on the differences between men and women in sports. Men and women present differently in their injury healing time, physical therapy, mental health, and more. Traditionally, the textbooks and research done on sports injuries have been based on the male physique. As society progresses and women’s sports become increasingly popular, the differences between men and women in sports become crucial. Men and women have different brain structures, thus causing them to respond differently to physiological stressors, injuries, and mental health issues. One injury that has become more popular over the past couple of years is an ACL tear. Recent research suggests that women

Additionally, the video says that “female athletes are 4 times more likely to experience an ACL tear than their male counterparts”. Tshimbalanga explains her path to self-love following four season-ending injuries. She changed her focus from her injuries and soccer to finding safer ways to participate in her favorite activities. Furthermore, the video explains how inadequate resources and focus from athletic staff might have an impact on the increased amount of ACL injuries doctors have been seeing. At large universities where football is the main source of income and viewers, the majority of the athletic trainers are focused on the football players and their impact injuries, considering football has up to 100 players on a team. This poses an unfair disadvantage for all women’s sports and the players. Although at some universities, women’s sports don’t bring in as much revenue as male sports, the health of the female players is just as important as the male players. All three sources agree that women’s sports contain multiple stressors and unfair factors that men don’t necessarily have on their plates as an

In recent years, athletic departments, specifically in Division 1 athletics, have updated their staff and resources to better support their female athletes, but women are still at a disadvantage. Although improvements are being made, there is nothing staff can do to alter the genetic differences that make women more prone to certain injuries. Less muscle mass, larger lung capacity, larger hearts, more red blood cells, and more—all things that make men’s bodies more resilient to injuries and illnesses. Furthermore, when compared to women, men are able to perform under less sleep than women, signifying that their bodies are able to recover faster. The differences may be slight, however when the season comes around they become very visible. All of these factors can lead women to develop injuries faster and more severely than men. After researching this topic, I concluded that more studies need to be done, as well as updating the previous studies. The majority of the research done on women in sports is not recent and has flaws. Lastly, there have been several attempts to raise awareness of women’s sports and the key differences they