Warrior Girls

“Warrior Girls” (Michael Sokolove) may be the best book that I have read when it comes to the injury epidemic facing female athletes. Sokolove has written several pieces for the New Your Times and has taken a layman’s view to an epidemic that those of us in the healthcare field have either innocently overlooked in the name of caring for injured athletes or have “stuck our heads into the sand” denying that this is even a problem. Young female athletes (in my humble opinion) are competing in an arena that demands perfection, year-around practice and massive amounts of money spent by parents. They are doing this without the resources that are traditionally reserved for their male counterparts (access to quality strength training). I am sure that this will cause some descent among some, but the evidence is there! As an athletic trainer for more years than I can count, I can anecdotally account for a lopsided number of ACL injuries among our female athletes compared to our male athletes. You may disagree with me, but read before you solidify your decisions. The one thing to remember is that exercise induced injuries are caused by a mistake. An epidemic has formed because a preventable mistake has not been corrected.