Why do we see so many young female athletes sidelined from injury?

Did you miss the first blog? Go back and check it out! This is an awesome series!!! Our student Ashley is sharing her personal story and some insight on why so many young female athletes end up injured. If you are wanting to get a better understanding, then this blog series is for you! The purpose of this blog series is to go through some of the most common injuries, early identifications, and prevention of injuries for young female athletes.

Do you know what the most common injuries are that a young female athlete can endure?

Most of you can probably come up the obviously injuries like: rotator cuff tears/ strains, low back pain, and nerve impingement, but what how many of you actually know why these occur? Well, below I have listed common injuries that young female athletes undergo, as well as some explanation as to how these injuries occur.

• Shoulder-Impingement (most common)

  • Compared to an overhead thrower who has a range of motion (ROM) of 108 degrees, a female windmill pitcher requires 360 degrees of motion. This ROM then places torque on the biceps brachii (talked about in last week’s blog). The biceps tendon can either become impinged underneath the acromion of the shoulder, cause inflammation of the biceps tendon, or at worst, can rupture the tendon. In turn, your young female athlete may start to complain of pain on the front side of their shoulder, state relief of pain when the shoulder is down by their side, or the biceps muscle may look like a “pop-eye.”
  • “Pop-eye” muscle:

• Ulnar Nerve Impingement 
  • This injury is due to abnormal forces through the elbow. While pitching, you may notice that your young female athlete may have her forearm too far outside her pitching zone while her elbow is tucked near her body. This causes a valgus force and can end up causing impingement on the inside portion of the elbow (Cubital Tunnel) or at the wrist (Guyon’s Tunnel). If your athlete has a nerve impingement they will complain of numbness and tingling down the inside of their forearm and/or in their fourth and fifth (pinky) fingers.
  • Cubital Tunnel Entrapment: 
  • Guyon’s Tunnel Entrapment: 
  • Pain Location: 

 

Check out the blog next week to learn more about when these young women are over doing it!