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Sport and Gender

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Health and Gender

Abstract

Women are increasingly participating in both low- and high-impact physical activities and sports. This scenario has stimulated research aimed at elucidating the adaptations of females to sport and the pathophysiology of sport-related damages in women in order to maximise athletes’ life-long health through specific and evidence-based interventions. Due to anatomical, physiological and hormonal differences with respect to males, women are more prone to develop acute and chronic osteo-articular knee injuries, including anterior cruciate ligament injury and patellofemoral pain. Moreover, female athletes are more likely to suffer from iron deficiency-related anaemia, endocrinological disorders and bone mass loss and fractures.

This chapter provides an overview of conditions threatening health and career of female athletes and advises indications for their detection, prevention and management.

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Correspondence to Franco Trevisani .

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Trevisani, F., Villa, F.D. (2019). Sport and Gender. In: Tarricone, I., Riecher-Rössler, A. (eds) Health and Gender. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15038-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15038-9_12

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