Do they belong?
Female athletes may face higher risk of injuries.
By Dave Benson of The News-Sentinel
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Five games later, Reese tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.
"It was tough," said Reese who has since finished her career with the Spartans. "But it made me stronger the next year. I had to look at it positively."
Reese made a comeback. She drove just as hard to the hoop as she did before. And as anyone who has seen Reese play can attest, she plays the game as hard as any man.
While female athletes can participate in the same sports as men and can compete just as hard, they are more at risk for certain types of injuries, according to studies.
Women are 3.6 times more likely than men to suffer anterior cruciate ligament tears in the knees -- the most common knee injury for athletes according to studies conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. The female injury rate is roughly the same for ankle and foot injuries.
"There are some mechanical issues that put them more at risk," said Dr. Eric Jenkinson of Orthopaedics Northeast. "As they reach puberty, their body changes, and that leads to overuse injuries."
One of those changes is a widening of the pelvis. When a girl reaches puberty, the pelvis widens to allow for childbearing. But when it does so, it changes the motion of the knee. This affects the knees as well as the rest of the leg, the ankles and the feet.
The good news is that these injuries can be avoided with proper training. The United States' Olympic Training Center has concentrated its training in this area for 15 years.
The Olympic Training Center instructs its athletes on correct form and mechanics when they perform training exercises or the actions of their sport. If a deficiency is spotted in an athlete's form or mechanics, they are told how to correct it.
This type of training has recently made its way to Fort Wayne in the form of Orthopaedics Northeast's PerformanceONE. Jamey Gordon, director of
PerformanceONE, said when female athletes train using the proper form, the injury rate is reduced.
"The problem with training for female athletes is that in the past, coaches tried to follow the same path that they did with males. But as the data has shown, they have to compensate for injuries."
According to Jenkinson and the American Academy of Family Physicians, female athletes are also at greater risk for what is known as the triad of injuries: eating disorders, osteoporosis and amenorrhea (lack of menstrual periods). Each part of the triad has an effect on the other. Eating disorders can result in lower estrogen levels and amenorrhea, which can then lead to osteoporosis. But not enough studies have been performed to come up with definitive answers for this problem. Considering the risk of injury, are there sports that females shouldn't play?
"For female soccer players and male soccer players, the injury rate is not much different except for the the risk of ACL tears," Jenkinson said.
"If you have a female playing a sport with males, that's different. Males and females have the same number of muscle fibers per muscle cell," said Jenkinson. "But males have more muscle cells. If they're going to compete with males, it's going to increase the risk."
Sarah Hodgin, a junior at Elmhurst High School, played on the Trojans football team this year, as well as on the school's girls' volleyball, basketball and track teams. Hodgin did not suffer serious physical injuries during football season other than the usual bumps and bruises that accompany the sport. Hodgin's most serious injuries were to her feelings.
"I was a tomboy. People were not used to seeing me in a dress," Hodgin said "That's because I was super tall. I didn't have any of the features that a girl that age normally would. I was built more like guys. I had to fit in somewhere.
"I've gone through all types of crap. I don't know if I'd want any of the things people have said in the paper. Some of the stuff is really bad."
Hodgin shattered the tomboy image when in early May she won the shot put in the Summit Athletic Conference track meet on a Tuesday and was voted prom queen later that same week.
"I'm proud of both for different reasons," Hodgin said. "Sports, I've been striving at those my whole life. But right now, the coolest thing for me is I was voted prom queen. I'll look back at all the things I did in high school and that's something I'll be proud of."
But as Hodgin gets older, something she might be prouder of is the way she served as a role model for other female athletes.
"There's this little girl at my basketball games," she said "Her parents come up to me and say, 'She wants to play football just like you.'
Because I did that, she wants to do it. Every time I see her, I go up and hug her.
"I don't sit there and think I want to do this because I want to be a role model. I just want to do the best I can. If that inspires somebody, great."
The female knee
As the female pelvis widens, it changes the mechanics of the knee, making it track at an angle, as opposed to the straight up-and-down motion it had before puberty. Men keep the original track of the knee throughout their lives. The change in the knee track creates more stress on the joint.
The tracking of the knee affects the rest of the leg, too. One effect is that women over-pronate, a rolling of the ankle and foot to the inside, when they walk or run. This can lead to fallen arches. The change in the knee track can also lead to stress fractures of the tibia and foot.
Athletes speak out
Girls can play, they say
"I think it's a good idea for women to play football. I don't think women should be limited. But they should also know the risk that comes with it.
I think if they're going to play, they shouldn't be limited to kicker."
-- Snider senior football player J.J. Robinson
"A lot of guys feel that because girls aren't built like guys or aren't as physically strong as guys that we can't be as good as guys. I think it's going to get better. Limits are going to be pushed."
-- Elmhurst junior multiple-sport athlete Sarah Hodgin
"Amber Kuss from Oregon Davis plays on the guys' team. She's the only girl golfer at the school. I played with her at the state finals both days. She plays on the guys' team in the spring, but isn't allowed to go to sectional or state with them. She plays at sectional and state during the girls' season."
-- Carroll senior golfer
Rachel Meikle
"Wrestling is a tough sport. I don't see it as a girl's sport. But if a girl wants to do it, I give her credit for it. No girls have gone out or ever said I want to come out at Snider. But we have seen female wrestlers when we've wrestled down south."
-- Snider junior football player and wrestler Marcus Wagner
"When I was in high school, I always competed against the guys. I didn't think anything of going down to the gym and playing pick- up games with the guys."
-- Ann Meyers Drysdale, college basketball commentator
