Buser Anna, Schley Stacey, Render Ally, Ramirez Mario E, Truong Caleb, Easley Kirk A, Shenvi Neeta, Jayanthi Neeru
Emory Sports Medicine Center, Atlanta, Georgia.
Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program, Division of Sports Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Sports Health. 2025 Jan-Feb;17(1):190-201. doi: 10.1177/19417381241296862. Epub 2024 Nov 26.
Young female athletes may have higher rates of overuse injuries and sport specialization than male athletes. The association of sports specialization and return to sport (RTS) timeframe is also unknown.
Specialized female athletes will have more intense, year-round training patterns, more overuse injuries, and longer RTS times than male athletes.
Cohort study.
Level 3.
Injured athletes aged 10 to 23 years presenting to a sports medicine clinic reported their degree of sport specialization and training patterns. Skeletal maturity was estimated using the Khamis-Roche method. Injury type and RTS timeframes were categorized from electronic medical records. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis assessed associations between variables.
A total of 485 athletes (40.2% female) were enrolled. Higher degrees of sport specialization were associated strongly with overuse injuries ( < 0.01). After adjusting for specialization, female athletes were more likely to sustain an overuse injury (adjusted odds ratio, 1.49; = 0.04). Female athletes participated in fewer total physical activity hours per week ( < 0.01), fewer free play hours per week ( < 0.01), and participated in their main sport for more months of the year than their male counterparts ( = 0.02). Female athletes were more likely to be at a higher developmental stage than male athletes ( < 0.01). RTS timeframes were increased in athletes with serious overuse injury; however, no association was found between degree of specialization and RTS time regardless of sex.
Female athletes are more likely to sustain overuse injuries with more organized, year-round, training and less free play compared with their male counterparts.
Female sex may be an independent risk factor of overuse injury. Future strategies to mitigate these risks may include increased free play hours and limiting year-round training through seasonal rest.
年轻女性运动员可能比男性运动员有更高的过度使用损伤率和运动专项化程度。运动专项化与恢复运动（RTS）时间框架之间的关联也尚不清楚。
与男性运动员相比，专项化的女性运动员将有更密集的全年训练模式、更多的过度使用损伤以及更长的RTS时间。
队列研究。
3级。
前往运动医学诊所就诊的10至23岁受伤运动员报告了他们的运动专项化程度和训练模式。使用卡米斯-罗氏方法估算骨骼成熟度。从电子病历中对损伤类型和RTS时间框架进行分类。卡方检验和逻辑回归分析评估变量之间的关联。
共纳入485名运动员（40.2%为女性）。运动专项化程度越高与过度使用损伤密切相关（P<0.01）。在对专项化进行调整后，女性运动员更有可能遭受过度使用损伤（调整后的优势比为1.49；P=0.04）。女性运动员每周的总体育活动时间更少（P<0.01），每周的自由玩耍时间更少（P<0.01），并且与男性同行相比，她们参加主要运动的月份更多（P=0.02）。女性运动员比男性运动员更有可能处于更高的发育阶段（P<0.01）。严重过度使用损伤的运动员RTS时间框架增加；然而，无论性别如何，均未发现专项化程度与RTS时间之间存在关联。
与男性同行相比，女性运动员在更有组织的全年训练且自由玩耍较少的情况下，更有可能遭受过度使用损伤。
女性性别可能是过度使用损伤的独立危险因素。未来降低这些风险的策略可能包括增加自由玩耍时间以及通过季节性休息限制全年训练。
