INTRODUCTION

Why can't a woman be more like a man?

This refrain echoes through the arenas, playing fields and locker rooms of the world. The fact is we women athletes cannot and should not be more like male athletes. Our female bodies are constructed and function differently and that gives us both advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately, many coaches, physicians and athletes have not recognized the differences and as a result, girls and women athletes often have inadequate training, suffer unnecessary injuries and do not reach their full potential.

This doesn't mean females can't be as great or even better than their male counterparts on the playing field! Men may have bigger muscles, for example, but women often have superior endurance.

Psychologically, some of us are just as competitive or more so than our male counterparts. Near the end of medical school I was interviewing for an orthopedic residency program. As usual, I was the only woman in the interview pool and was told by one of the attending physicians: "You know women are generally not strong enough physically to get through an orthopedic residency." I had heard this statement at least half a dozen times at other programs where I had interviewed and quite frankly I was getting tired of it! I told the interviewer that I would challenge him to a "one-armed push up contest." If he won, I would leave and he would never see me again. But if I won, he would have to treat me like all of the other interviewees and realize that I would be just as capable as them. I took off my well-pressed interview suit jacket and hit the floor. When I was up to 38 reps, he asked me to stop and proclaimed that I was the winner! I now belong to the less than one percent of the orthopedic surgeons in practice in the United States who are female.

I have been athletic since elementary school. I was a "tomboy" who played many different sports in order to keep up with my older brother. I loved horseback riding, softball, skateboarding, and even rode motorcycles.

As a teenager, my sports were gymnastics, cycling, equestrian jumping, skating and racquetball. In college, I was most competitive in racquetball and bodybuilding but also loved rollerblading and cycling. I now participate in skiing, mountain biking, weight lifting and I'm trying my hand at tennis since racquetball courts are tough to come by where I live. I also love to play ice hockey although my work as a surgeon makes the lack of flexibility of team sports an issue. Even though I regularly treat medical emergencies, I make sure to squeeze some athletics into my schedule and you should too.

As an orthopedic specialist, who has been treating female patients from amateurs who play just for fun to Olympic athletes seeking gold medals, I have seen many injuries that could have been prevented or that should have received earlier treatment. For example, young basketball players with overuse injuries in their knees that could have been prevented with simple stretching regimens. Also, older tennis players with long standing, shoulder pain that could have easily been treated with physical therapy but instead eventually required surgery.

One of the most important of parts of my treatment of female athletes, I believe, is teaching them how to continue their sport and prevent injuries. I urge them to participate in year round or off-season conditioning. If you are a skier, for instance, you may start skiing November 15 but what have you done all summer? Did you swim or ride a bicycle so that your muscles are conditioned and flexible? Year-round conditioning not only decreases your risk of injury but also enhances your performance.

My co-author, Ruth Winter, MS, is a good example of why this book is needed. Her story: "My mother was a high school physical education teacher. When I was a teenager, I fell on a tennis court and smashed my left knee. That was before sports medicine became a specialty and my knee was treated by a general practioner who merely removed fluid and bandaged it. A few years later, on my honeymoon, I fell off a horse and smashed the other knee. Again, the injury was not properly treated. Now, years, later, osteoarthritis has affected both of my damaged knees and I recently had to have a total knee replacement."

It is now recognized that female knees are very vulnerable during athletics and must be strengthened and protected. Even though the specialty of sports medicine started in the 1950s and has grown in research and therapies, only very recently has it been recognized that a female athlete's body has certain vulnerabilities and strengths that are different than her male counterparts. "Chances are," Ruth says, "that I wouldn't have such severe knee problems now if I had been treated by a sports medicine specialist such as Dr. Beim when I was first injured."

If you are an athlete who wants to excel, prevent injuries and receive appropriate treatment, this book will help you educate yourself about both your vulnerabilities and advantages.

We have written The Female Athlete's Body Book to encourage you to:

• Be physically fit as a female athlete.

• Enjoy your sport whether you are an elite athlete or just out for fun.

• Improve your skills and self-satisfaction when you are on a playing field, in the water, on the ski slopes, up the mountains, in the woods, on the road or in your health club.

• Prevent Injuries.

• Be informed about when it is safe to treat minor sports injuries yourself and when you should seek professional help.