Female and Sports / 한양의대학술지

ABSTRACT

The past three decades have seen a dramatic increase in female participation in athletics. The presentation of female athlete in 2008 Beijing Olympic Game increased up to 42.4% of total competitors. Despite the increased participation in female athletics, sports medicine research focusing on female athletics is still in its early stages. The unique anatomic, physiologic, and biomechanical characteristics of female need special attention. In general, females are shorter in stature, shorter femur, wider pelvis, larger knee valgus, narrower shoulder, and more lax in soft tissue. Females tend to have more fat, less muscle mass, and lower bone mineral density than equally trained males. Female athletes also have a concern about the pregnancy and cyclic hormonal changes with menstruation. The important musculoskeletal conditions for female athlete are scoliosis, shoulder instability and frequent knee problems including anterior cruciate ligament injury. Medically, female athlete triad composed with disordered eating, athletic amenorrhea, and premature osteoporosis is a major problems to evaluate and needs the early management.