Sports: Doing More Harm Than Good
Female Athletes have not always held an equal right in participating in sports or even every day activities. Prior to Title IX, females weren’t allowed to compete in a sport. Now that women have the right to play most sports; however, with this new law, injuries in female athletics have become more noticeable. New York Times writer Michael Sokolove, author of “The Uneven Playing Field,” and Sports Chiropractor, Stephen Horwitz, author of “ACL Injuries: Females Athletes At Increased Risk,” explain their opinion on why there has been an increase of injuries in sports; drawing conclusions from Title IX, an over emphasis on sports and body structures of women. Since Title IX was passed, this allowed more women to participate in sports, females have different body structures from men, therefore, causing female’s bodies are more prone to injuries. Some injuries female athletes commonly suffer from include: chronic knee pain, shin splints, stress fractures, ankle sprains, concussions and hip and back pain. The three main causes for this trend are Title IX, that their has been an over emphasis on women’s sports, and the body structure of women. The large rise in injuries which female athletes in high school face has increased because females’ body types have a structure unique to their gender. Injuries in female athletics have been over looked. After Title IX was passed, the trend of high school girls getting hurt has been noticed. Doctor Mitchell Rauh (et al.), contributor to “Subsequent Injury Patterns in Girls' High School Sports” states, “Patterns of subsequent injury risk appear to vary among these 5 sports. [Basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball and field hockey] Almost one quarter of the athletes incurred 2 or more injuries over a 3-year period, so the effects of subsequent injuries deserve more consideration”(Rauh, et al.). Explaining that the increase in injuries in female athletes does not need to be over looked but something needs to change on how high school girls’ sports are being run. The increasing number of girl’s participation in high school sports became noticeable a few years after Title IX was passed increasing by 79.5 percent since 1975 through 1976. Field Hockey, Soccer, Basketball, and Cheerleading have proved to be the three most dangerous sports for female athletes. Overall, the possibility of an athlete enduring three or more injuries was 38.6 percent, and hockey field players had the highest risk of injuring themselves at 62 percent. Rauh (et al.) states, “the total number of player-seasons from 5 girls' sports during the 3-year period was 25187. Soccer had the largest number of player-seasons (n = 6642 player-seasons), followed by basketball (n.6083), softball (n.5435), volleyball (n.4222), and field hockey (n.2805). A total of 4696 injured players suffered 5640 injuries. The total reported injuries by sport were soccer (n.1771), basketball (n.1748), softball (n.910), volleyball (n.701), and field hockey (n.51)” (Rauh et al.).

It was not standard for women to participate in sports until 1974, when Title IX was passed. The Education Act, also know as Title IX, stated that no one should because of gender be denied the benefits of any educational program of activity that receives direct federal aid. Meaning that within the realms of education and sports, females and males have equal opportunities to compete. More women allowed to play have a greater chance of suffering from injuries. Thirty-nine Percent of females in the years 1975 and 1976 that played sports ended up with a serious injury or getting sent to the hospital. Sokolove states, “This casualty rate was not due to some random spike... It is part of a national trend in the wake of Title IX and the explosion of sports participation among girls and young women...women are suffering injuries that take them off the field for weeks or seasons at a time, or sometimes forever”(Sokolove). Recent studies show that