National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

April 7, 1997

Female injury rates a mystery

The bad news is that female basketball players are more likely to get hurt than their male counterparts. The worse news is that experts don't know why.

Researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School recently concluded a study on high-school and college-aged basketball players and determined that women are five times more likely to have a season-ending injury than men. They are especially prone to more serious leg injuries.

"There's no definitive answer as to why we're seeing all these injuries," Dr. Thomas L. Wickiewicz of Cornell University Medical College told The Associated Press. But he added that the research "adds a lot more credence to what we already know."

The study of 11,780 New Jersey high-school and college players showed that female college players are about six times more likely than men to tear the knee's anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Possible explanations include gender differences in the structure of the knee and thigh muscles and changes in estrogen levels when women menstruate. Other possible -- and more controllable -- factors include training practices, the way athletics shoes fit and the way the athletes jump, twist and land.

Dr. John D. Kelly, an orthopedic surgeon and coordinator of clinical research at Temple University, told AP that previous studies have shown that women are more susceptible to injuries than men, but "not until recently have we seen such huge differentials" in injury rates between men and women.

Not only did the study find that women were injured at a higher rate than men, it also revealed that college-aged women were more prone to injury than high-school girls.

Among the findings:

  • College women had a much greater risk than high-school girls of three types of injuries: ACL tears (3.66 times more likely), season-ending injuries (3.0) and injuries requiring surgery (4.46).

  • Female basketball players are 7.61 times more likely than males to sustain an injury requiring surgery at the college level.

  • Females were 6.23 times more likely to tear the ACL than males in college.

    The findings will be reported soon in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

    Slamming a home run

    Wittenberg University's Bryan Magoteaux tied three NCAA Division III records March 25 in Wittenberg's 27-8 victory over Thomas More College.

    The sophomore centerfielder blasted two grand slams in the eighth inning, something done only once before in Division III (Manny Castilla of the University of Rochester in 1987) and only 10 other times in NCAA history at all levels.

    In addition, his 11 runs batted in tied another Division III mark. Besides the two home runs, he had a pair of doubles for 12 total bases.

    Happy Birthday!

    The National Football Foundation is celebrating its 50th birthday this year.

    The organization, which was formed by Grantland Rice, Douglas MacArthur and Red Blaik, is the parent organization of the College Football Hall of Fame, which has inducted 629 players and 126 coaches over the years.

    -- Compiled by David Pickle

    News quiz

    Answers to the following questions appeared in March issues of The NCAA News. How many can you answer?

    1. How many compliance reviews have been conducted at Division II institutions since 1987? (a) 15; (b) 20; (c) 45; (d) 90.

    2. NASA astronaut Steve Smith was a member of a national-championship team in which sport at Stanford University? (a) baseball; (b) gymnastics; (c) tennis; (d) water polo.

    3. True or false: Instead of publishing one NCAA Manual for 1997-98, the Association will publish three division-specific manuals.

    4. How many lawsuits have been filed under all titles of the Americans with Disabilities Act during the five years since its adoption? (a) 20; (b) 650; (c) 1,350; (d) 6,600.

    5. Which of the following won its first team championship ever in the sport of wrestling? (a) University of Iowa; (b) San Francisco State University; (c) Augsburg College; (d) none of the above.

    6. Which school won a record fifth straight Division I Women's Indoor Track Championships team title? (a) University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; (b) Auburn University; (c) Louisiana State University; (d) University of Texas at Austin.

    7. True or false: Oakland University, which is scheduled to compete in Division I beginning next year, has finished either first or second in 15 of the last 19 Division II Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

    8. Which school won its 18th straight Division III Men's Swimming and Diving Championships after losing its conference meet for the first time in 44 years? (a) Kenyon College; (b) University of California, San Diego; (c) Denison University; (d) Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges.

    News quiz answers

    1-(c). 2-(d). 3-True. 4-(b). 5-(b). 6-(c). 7-True. 8-(a).