Female AthleteTriad

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According to the Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Review’s article on the female athlete triad, in the past forty years, American women have become increasingly involved in athletics as a result of laws allowing them to participate in sports. (Lebrun and Rumball) For instance, Cathy Rigby won eight Olympic gold medals in gymnastics during the ‘60’s and 70’s when these laws were just coming into effect. (Brunet) Nevertheless, there is an ugly hidden underbelly to the many benefits of women’s increased participation in sports. Many sports have very high standards for body image, which has led to the increasing prevalence of three “separate… but interrelated conditions” collectively known as the female athlete triad. (Lebrun and Rumball) Despite Cathy Rigby’s aforementioned success, an article by Dr. Michael Brunet reveals that she was severely affected by the most well-known of the female athlete triad: the eating disorder. This eventually caused her to suffer cardiac arrest twice. (Brunet) These effects are not limited to elite athletes, however; high school athletes are also affected by the triad, particularly those participating in sports “in which leanness is perceived to optimize performance” or which use “specific weight categories.” (Lebrun) The three components of the triad, osteoporosis, amenorrhea, and disordered eating, are increasingly becoming an unfortunate effect of distorted body image on sports.
Disordered eating, probably one of the more well-known components of the disorder, is frequently caused by the habitually distorted ideal body image prevalent in many sports. It is most often seen in sports where weight is a factor. This includes sports that are “subjectively scored” like figure skating, those that...

... middle of paper ...

...n subclinical eating disorders, which, as the name indicates, are not even official disorders. The most common subclinical eating disorder in female athletes is a simple energy deficit. An energy deficit occurs when a normal weight athlete eats fewer calories than she burns. These can also include eating snacks instead of meals and skipping meals. These subclinical eating disorders are also very difficult to treat

Works Cited

Brunet, Michael II. “Female Athlete Triad.” Clinics in Sports Medicine 24.3 (2005): 623-636.
Web. 2 February 2014.
Female Athlete Triad Coalition. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2014.
Lebrun, Constance M., Rumball Jane S. “Female Athlete Triad.” Sports Medicine and
Arthroscopy Review 10.1 (March 2002): 23-32. Web. 2 February 2014.
Mayo Clinic Staff. "Stress Fractures." Diseases and Conditions. Mayo Clinic, 24 Jan. 2014.
Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

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