#HerMoJo - a gentle 'nudge' to help get more women & girls, more ACTIVE!
Do women have a higher risk of injury? from Erin Semmler in Queensland
Some studies have shown women are at a higher risk of injury in contact sport than men.
But Clare Minahan, Associate Professor of Sports Physiology and Performance at Queensland's Griffith University, said research results were skewed because women had not been playing contact sport for long.
"A lot of the researchers are working through this to try to improve those statistics," she said. It could be a lot to do with the fact that girls haven't traditionally grown up playing these sports, not necessarily that they're contact sports. They haven't played football, for instance, since the age of five and come from other sports to play these contact sports at a much older age."
Associate Professor Minahan said girls should not be turned off contact sport because of the injury risk. "I know there's a little bit of negative media coming out about women in contact sport," she said. There's no strong evidence to suggest that it's detrimental at all. I think encouraging girls to play any sport can only be a positive thing.
"The benefits, not only to physical health and being able to improve wellbeing, but also that team sport environment, are fantastic for social skills, team-building skills [and] mental health."
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For more updates follow Erin Semmler @erinsemmler
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Have you seen MoJoManuals? FOOTBALLMoJo, LACROSSEMoJo, ROWMoJo, NETBALLMoJo – www.WSNet.co.uk/MoJoManuals
MoJoManuals addressing the wide range of issues which teenage girls face as they engage in competitive sport. Predicated on 'Physical Literacy' but also cover a range of other emotive issues such as: body image, diet, fit or thin, social media, training with menstruation, coaching style etc. – which impact how girls engage/drop out of sport – and potentially go on to be elite athletes and confident, mature young women outside of sport.
