Why do women suffer more sports injuries?
When it comes to sports, ill-fitting gear is the bane of women players
We may have celebrated International Women’s Day this past Friday, but for millions of women in sports from football to hockey, basketball to cricket, things remain the same. For, they continue to suffer injuries because the gear they use, especially shoes, is not specifically designed for their needs and physiology.
Puma’s research into the anatomy of the female and the male foot showed that the shape of the female foot is different. “The boot needs to match the anatomical differences. If there is room in the boot for the foot to move around then there is less stability and lockdown, which can lead to higher levels of strain and stress on the body when performing dynamic movements,” explains Binwant Behgal, head of sports marketing at Puma India. According to Behgal, it is important that female and male athletes wear boots that match the shape of their foot to feel comfortable, stable and enjoy a greater sense of lockdown.
One of the biggest fallouts of wearing poorly-fitted gear is injuries. Studies have shown that a disproportionately large number of women suffer anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and hamstring injuries compared to men. A British Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee’s report, Health Barriers For Girls And
Women In Sport, published just days ahead of International Women’s Day, states that the sports sector’s response to the high rates of ACL injuries among women footballers has been disparate and slow. Some of the biggest players in women’s football today are out of action because of ACL injuries, including star striker Sam Kerr of Australia, or Euros hero Beth Mead of England. Back in 2009, when a coach I used to train with invited former India cricketer Jhulan Goswami to join me for a cardio session, she turned up in an oversized men’s cricket jersey that she had probably got while playing some tournament. Thanks to the dominance of the all-powerful BCCI, Indian women cricketers today get equal pay and access to proper gear designed. Yet, thousands of young girls that Goswami and other women cricketers inspire, continue to struggle to find gear that fits them.
Paola Giuntini, 31, has played basketball since she was a kid. However, for most of her life she has had to make compromises as far as basketball shoes are concerned by buying shoes that do not fit her properly, or waiting long for those that do. “I waited four months for the pair I am currently using,” she says.
Giuntini knows that many of the injuries that women suffer while playing basketball are due to improper gear that they play in. “I think this is due to the fact that those who work in the industry are mainly men, and so obviously this isn’t an issue that concerns them. This makes it even more important to have women in the field and to have more sportswomen designing signature shoes,” Giuntini suggests. It’s a change that we urgently need.
Female athletes are prone to injuries because they don’t wear anatomically designed shoes