UCalgary research warns of the fallout of rising injuries in female athletes

New global research led by the University of Calgary is sounding the alarm on rising injury rates among female athletes, warning a lack of equitable prevention efforts is driving girls away from sports. (Image courtesy Makenna Lebsack)

New global research led by the University of Calgary is sounding the alarm on rising injury rates among female athletes, warning a lack of equitable prevention efforts is driving girls away from sports.

The findings are part of a major International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement released Monday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The report, titled Female/Woman/Girl Athlete Injury Prevention (FAIR), aims to bridge a long-standing gap in how injuries are managed and prevented for women compared to their male counterparts.

Dr. Carolyn Emery, a physiotherapist and professor in the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology, co-led the international effort alongside professor Kay Crossley from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

“Historically, the provisions for sport for female women and girls is inequitable. There was really a real gap in the knowledge around female- and woman- and girl-specific strategies for prevention of injury, and so it was really important for us to bring together experts across the world,” said Emery.

Researchers say while participation is surging globally, the medical and organizational support has not kept pace.

Injuries in female athletes often carry significant long-term consequences, including mental-health challenges, obesity, osteoarthritis and even poor academic performance.

These factors are cited as primary drivers for why women and girls are dropping out of organized sports.

“The rates of sport participation and injuries in girls’ sport are increasing, and many girls that get injured from sport don’t return,” said Emery.

The consensus statement is the result of a March meeting of the IOC, where 109 researchers from around the world shared data to develop 56 specific recommendations.

The recommendations are designed to be implemented by everyone from high-performance professionals to parents and coaches.

They range from broad cultural shifts, such as demanding sports organizations make athlete safety non-negotiable, to specific safety mandates.

One such recommendation calls for mouthguards to be required in all collision sports to reduce the risk of dental injuries and concussions.

“One of the things a lot of our young girl athletes are struggling with is they don’t have access to the same resources or facilities or the expert coaching we might see in other places, and so they haven’t had the developmental opportunities,” said Carly McKay, associate professor at UCalgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.

The authors emphasize the goal of the FAIR statement is to create an “equitable playing field” by addressing the biological and systemic differences that have historically been overlooked in sports science research.

“I think this consensus statement, it’s not the finish line. This is actually kind of the start. We need to really work at getting this information out to athletes, to coaches, to parents and to those end users (it will) benefit the most,” said Emily Heming, PhD student and athlete.

A link to the full report can be found here.