How's Your Body?

Someone asked me today: "How's your body?" and I obviously answered: "AWESOME." How's that for a positive self image?

That's not what he meant, of course. He was asking me, have you had any injuries? For a person who trains everyday, usually twice a day, and has for over fifteen years, that's not an unreasonable question. I have been lucky to have been healthy and injury-free (other than muscle soreness) through the many years of intense working out.

That seems to be less common than you might think. In his book, Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Women's Sports, Michael Sokolove draws attention to the disturbingly high incidence of injuries in women's and girls' sports. Due to a variety of factors, including the competitive climate of athletics with regard to the intensity of play and year-round duration of practice and play, the fundamental musculoskeletal differences between male and female athletes, and the fierce determination of the players, more and more girls and women are getting hurt in their sports. The proportion of female athletes who experience significant injury (such as an ACL tear) is exponentially higher than for their male counterparts. In some sports, like soccer and basketball, tearing an ACL is almost a rite of passage, an inevitable part of participation.

Unfortunately, while eager young athletes and their driven coaches may see these injuries as detrimental in terms of lost playing time and deconditioning while rehabilitating, the consequences can be much more severe. Every surgery, no matter how minor, carries inherent risks, and each time these women go under the knife they subject themselves to the possibility of additional complications. Furthermore, tears and damage to the ligaments and tendons of the joints of young, healthy people may result in crippling impairments twenty years down the road.


Of course we do want our daughters to run and play and compete. We can't have them sitting on the sidelines watching the boys play. So how do we keep them safe? Here are some ideas:

• Cross-training. The tendency of the past few years is to have kids specialize in a single sport from a very young age and immerse them in the sport completely so that they are playing and training for the one sport year-round -- through the regular season, school, club and travel teams. This leads to a lot of repetitive movements and overexposures to opportunities for injury. Allow children (boys and girls) to play a variety of sports and games. This will create a cross-training effect that will strengthen the whole body in different ways.

• Rest. Hyper-competitiveness and drive may give her an edge over the rival team, but is it worth it if she can't walk in middle age? Keep a reasonable training schedule that allows for at least one true rest day a week. While training, remember to get sufficient sleep each night. Fatigue leads to injury.
  

• Increase muscle strength. Many joint injuries result from weakness in the muscles supporting the joint. In addition to cardiovascular endurance, athletic drills, and practice games, incorporate resistance training to strengthen the muscles, particularly the lower limbs. Do weighted squats and lunges to strengthen quadriceps and hamstrings

• Listen to your body. Respect the signs and signals that your body gives you. "Warrior girls" want to play through pain and push through injuries -- but this only makes the injuries worse. Although it can be hard to stop, particularly if it is a key moment in a game, it may make the difference between a minor ache and a catastrophic injury.

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