Originally published October 13 2005
California researchers say rates of physical injury are higher in female athletes
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The study charted 3,003 female and 3,105 male athletes from 15 California schools who participated in sports during 2002 and 2003, and of 966 total injuries sustained in that period, 515 were female athletes.
Female varsity athletes are more apt to be injured than their male counterparts, even when they are playing the comparable sport, California researchers report.
Each year, 2 million high school athletes are injured in this country, costing $1.8 million dollars, report the researchers in a recent presentation at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition.
As more females enter athletic programs, controversy has surrounded the issue of whether girls are more likely to be injured than boys, with previous studiesprevious studies reporting conflicting conclusions about varsity sports injuries.
But this latest study of 6,000 high school varsity athletes in California found that female athletes were more prone to injury.
"Female varsity athletes had greater injury rates and greater injury risk than male varsity athletes overall," Theodore J. Ganley, MD, orthopaedic director of sports medicine at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, tells WebMD.
Researchers collected data on age, gender, sport, skill level, body part, type of injury and days lost from the sport.
Data from athletic trainers was submitted to detect significant differences between male and female athletes with respect to injury risk and injury rate both across all sports and within individual sports.
The athletes were followed for a total 884,339 athletic hours in sports activities.
In all, 966 injuries occurred during one-year period ending in 2004, with females sustaining 515 and males 451 injuries.
In terms of more minor injuries with only one or two days lost from the sport, girls had more injuries than boys.
Girls also had more serious injuries in basketball and soccer where seven plus days were lost from the sport.
The only sport where boys exceeded the girls in serious injuries was in baseball.
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