Utilizing a multidisciplinary approach and drawing on the experience of experts in their respective fields, this unique book presents and discusses an array of topics relevant to the ever-growing population of pediatric, adolescent and young adult female athletes. Each topic is clearly defined and includes epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and future directions. Opening chapters discuss growth and development, sports nutrition, resistance training, and psychological considerations for the young female athlete, with a chapter focusing on the female athlete triad. Later chapters present injuries and management strategies common to the young female athlete, such as overuse injuries, spondylolysis, hip and ACL injuries, concussion, and cardiovascular complications. The concluding chapter considers the benefits of physical activity for chronic disease prevention later in life. The Young Female Athlete provides useful, up-to-date information for any practitioner treating this active population, encouraging sports participation with fitness, injury prevention, personal growth, and long-term health.

Designed to address the nutritional needs of women over the age of 18 who partake in sports on a regular basis, Nutrition and the Female Athlete: From Research to Practice highlights nutritional concerns specific to active women. It discusses the link between nutrition and athletic performance and translates research into practical applications for health, fitness, and nutrition professionals. The book addresses gender differences in substrate utilization and the implications for how these differences might translate into different macronutrient requirements for female athletes. It covers vitamins and minerals that are often lacking in the diets of female athletes and presents special considerations for individuals with disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, and low bone-mineral density.

The third edition of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine is more specifically tailored to the needs of practising athletic trainers and primary care physicians, although educators should find it a useful reference for students. Many of the chapters from the second edition are supplemented and enhanced by new chapters. The major topics covered include: legal issues in sports medicine; injury prevention; evaluating the athlete; physiology of the musculoskeletal system; applied principles in treatment and rehabilitation; the anatomy and physiology of the musculoskeletal system; sports psychology; medical conditions; gender specific conditions; and athletes with different abilities.

Optimising Female Athletic Performance presents a comprehensive overview of the wide range of factors that underpin female athletic performance based on the most up to date research. This book draws from the disciplines of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and sociology to develop an integrated approach and illustrates how female athletes can be safely prepared for training and performance in a way that benefits their health and optimises their performance. The book covers the specific challenges active females encounter as they move through their lives from childhood, puberty, adolescence, adulthood, potentially motherhood, and on to the menopausal stage. As well as presenting the key knowledge and research around female athletic performance, each chapter includes real world examples in the form of case studies and athletes’ experiences. Each chapter concludes with a summary offering key points and take away messages for coaches and practicing athletes, as well as end of chapter quizzes to allow students to assess their own learning and knowledge. Optimising Female Athletic Performance is key reading for undergraduate students studying sports science and sports coaching degrees who aspire to a career working with female athletes in a range of contexts and environments. Content has been presented in a way that is easily accessible to students and to facilitate the practical application of knowledge by practitioners in a range of sport and exercise settings. It is also useful to active females to understand their own performance and enhance their experience of sport and fitness.

Women's sport in general has gained an increasingly higher profile and level of respect in recent years, and it is becoming widely acknowledged that a female athlete's training programmes will differ in several respects from that of their male counterparts. Despite this, there is a dearth of research evidence available to coaches and athletes to guide the planning and programming process, with limited comparisons of training adaptations between the genders and in particular, a lack of investigation into elite female performers. Strength and Conditioning for Female Athletes contains insights from various experts in this specialised area. This text outlines specifically what is and what isn't known regarding female athlete development, and exposes the gaps that currently exist in the academic literature, with practical examples of applied practice. Coaches, sports scientists and athletes themselves will find here a wealth of useful information, with topics including: needs analysis; programme design for the basic biomotor abilities; speed and agility; long-term athlete development; the menstrual cycle and gender-specific injuries.

Of all the important factors that must be considered when assessing and treating an athlete, the impact of patient sex is perhaps the most critical, yet historically has often been neglected. The "same injury" in a male patient may present differently, sometimes in subtle ways, than in a female patient and may require a different treatment approach. The Female Athlete, edited by Dr. Rachel Frank, provides concise, expert coverage of the ways in which common sports medicine injuries present in female patients versus male patients, describing recent literature analyzing sex differences in injury patterns and available treatment options. - Provides a comprehensive review of key areas of importance related to care for women in sports, including the differences in care and treatment for male and female patients. - Covers many of the most common injuries female athletes face, including ACL injuries, shoulder instability, concussion, stress fractures, female overuse injuries, and more. - Considers prevention strategies, nutritional recommendations, as well as exercise recommendations for women during pregnancy.

This essential new volume in the Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine series, published under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee, provides a thorough overview of the unique physiologic characteristics, responsiveness to training, and possible health hazards involved in the training, coaching, and medical care of young athletes. Intense involvement in competitive sports often begins during childhood. During adolescence, many athletes reach their peak performance and some may participate in World Championships and Olympic Games at a relatively young age. The Young Athlete presents the available information relevant to exercise and training in youth, reviewed and summarized by authors who are recognized as leaders in their respective fields. The Young Athlete is subdivided into seven parts covering: the physiologic bases of physical performance in view of growth and development; trainability and the consequences of a high level of physical activity during childhood and adolescence for future health; the epidemiology of injuries, their prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation; non-orthopedic health concerns including the pre-participation examination; psychosocial issues relevant to young athletes; diseases relevant to child and adolescent athletes; the methodology relevant to the assessment of young athletes. This valuable reference summarizes a large database of information from thousands of studies and is especially relevant to sports physicians, pediatricians, general practitioners, physical therapists, dietitians, coaches, students, and researchers in the exercise sciences.

Current understanding of physiological characteristics of different populations and responses to environmental stress and exercise is primarily derived from research using male participants. Therefore, the physiological responses to exercise testing, prescription, and training in females should be further characterized and explored, as does knowledge on female-specific health and recovery from exercise. Additional female-focused research is thus required to develop and enhance our understanding of women’s exercise physiology.

Each chapter focuses on the specific issues that female athletes confront both on and off the field, such as bone health, nutritional recommendations, exercise/competition during menstruation and pregnancy, and much more. Fully endorsed by the IOC and drawing upon the experience of an international team of expert contributors, no other publication deals with the topic in such a concise and complete manner.

This successful book, now in a revised and updated second edition, reviews all aspects of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female athletes, with the focus on complete, noncontact ACL injuries. The opening section discusses anatomy and biomechanics and explains the short- and long-term impacts of complete ACL ruptures, including long-term muscle dysfunction and joint arthritis. Risk factors and possible causes of the higher noncontact ACL injury rates in female athletes compared with male athletes are then discussed in depth. Detailed attention is devoted to neuromuscular training programs and their effectiveness in reducing noncontact ACL injury rates in female athletes, as well as to sports-specific ACL injury prevention and conditioning programs of proven value. Rehabilitation programs after ACL injury and reconstruction that reduce the risk of a future injury are explored, and the concluding section looks at worldwide implementation of neuromuscular ACL injury prevention training and future research directions. The book will be of value to orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, athletic trainers, sports medicine primary care physicians, and strength and conditioning specialists.