An Uneven Playing Field: Flipping the Script on Gender and Sports Injury (SciFri Live Zoom Call-in)

Why are girls and women more prone to sports injuries? Joanne Parsons and Stephanie Coen talk with Ira about their research, which finds that outdated training regimens, ill-equipped weight rooms, and pervasive gender stereotypes-not hormones or “innate abilities” alone-have a deep effect on athletes’ health.
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Because of the pandemic, our show is currently pre-recorded, so the #SciFri​​ team have not able to take our audience's calls. We miss having listeners' voices on our radio program. We still want to hear from folks on our VoxPop app, but we're also experimenting with something new-we’re inviting our listeners to join us live for select recordings for #ScienceFriday​​ on the radio!
The event was recorded on Monday, June 27, 2022. The segment airs on the radio and our podcast on Friday, July 1, 2022.
If you'd like to join future live Zoom call-ins to get your questions on the air with us, sign up for updates: www.sciencefriday.com/article...

[@joeyh6513]

How many studies have there been about the effects of high heels on knees? if women and girls are trained from a young age to walk with pointed toes in high heels, how much does that affect their muscles, tendons and ligaments? If their feet are used to be mostly pointing down, how much is the tension difference between the front and back of the leg? is there a higher risk of acl injury in ballet dancers?

[@squod1]

Never seen a separate warm up area for women in any Strength Sport contest. Guess ball games are different some how.

[@MassiveTrackHunter]

Sexist coaches and mgmt cause this. Had the same problem with Girl's HS soccer at our local HS..... -The boys team was in the workout room every morning for an hour before practice started, then they had to spend 10 minutes stretching before practice and games. The boys were all toned and strong during games with lots of physical contact and very few injuries. -The girls team coaches NEVER scheduled a single workout for V or JV teams throughout the 4yrs our kid played on the team. They also NEVER had the team do a group stretch before ANY practice or game. Some of the girls would pull the girls off the bench to do some "jog-skip-kick-twist" stretches, but never enough to do much. The girls were mostly soft and untoned with little upper body strength and always got clobbered if they faced a team that clearly used the workout room. Constant injuries, especially ankles knees and back. Upper body and core strength were totally lacking.

[@jasonbennett7002]

I wonder how much a part for a huge majority of women aesthetics plays in this. Once everyone understands strength training greatly improves your chances and once equipment is available to all the problem of overarching social attitudes of female aesthetics will remain.