Top Five Sports and Fitness Injuries Common in Women

Over the last decade more and more women are getting involved in sports and regular exercise. This is a really great thing, but unfortunately, this means that more and more women are experiencing injuries related to sports and exercise. You are always at risk for injury, but knowing what these injuries are can help you to take some steps to avoid experiencing one of them.

ACL Injuries

You often hear about ACL injuries if you watch sports or catch the sports report on the news. Well, women are an increased risk up to eight times higher than men to experience this injury. This is a really big difference and the sports that women most often experience this in are sports like soccer and basketball where you need to make sudden changes in the direction that you are running. Why women experience this more is not completely known, but women’s muscle balance is different and this is believed to play a role. The differences in women’s hormonal makeup could also be at play. Being aware of your movements and wearing a knee brace that supports the knees well could help to prevent this injury.

Patellofemoral Pain

This is pain at the front of your knee and you tend to feel the pain more when you are going down the stairs or a hill after you have been resting for a while. Tight muscles in the area and over-pronation are generally what cause this to occur. To prevent it you want to make sure that your muscles are always well-stretched and limber and you can wear arch supporting insoles to prevent over pronation.

Stress Fractures

Stress fractures are common in women, but occur especially in older women whose bone density tends to be lower. This means that the bones are weakening and are more prone to damage. Stress fractures can occur just about anywhere, but in women, they are most often seen in the bones in the feet, lower legs and spine. The best way to prevent these is to start slow and gradually increase your physical activity. Having well-cushioned shoes and a diet that helps to keep bones healthy and strong are also largely helpful. In terms of diet, you want to make sure that you are getting plenty of vitamin D and calcium. Strength training regularly can also help to increase bone density.

IT Band Syndrome

The Iliotibial band can cause the outside of your knee to hurt if it rubs the lateral epicondyle in the upper leg bone. This is due to repetitive friction. Since women have an increased Q angle and wider hips, they are more prone to experiencing this. You should make sure that the soft tissues associated with your knee are well-stretched and a supportive knee brace can be worn during physical activity to help prevent this.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

This is not reserved solely for those who type multiple hours per day. This means that the medial nerve gets compressed and you notice tingling, weakness, pain and burning in the affected hand. Now, this can be a difficult injury to avoid. When you use your wrist repetitively, such as with badminton or tennis, you can fall victim to this. To help to prevent this you should ice, elevate and compress your wrists following any activity where you used your wrists.