Nature and causes of injuries in women resulting from an endurance training program

TLDR: A prospective study to identify exercise-related injuries and performance-limiting conditions that resulted from an 8-week physical training program and to identify some of the factors that may contribute to their occurrence indicated that a major cause of injury in women can be attributed to the lack of prior conditioning, greater body weight and fat percent, and limited leg strength.

Abstract: Women entering the Army are exposed to considerable physical stress due to the intense physical training program encoun tered. At the beginning of a basic training cycle, a prospective study was initiated to identify exercise-related injuries and performance-limiting conditions that resulted from an 8-week physical training program and to identify some of the factors that may contribute to their occurrence. Four hundred women recruits (age 18 to 29 years) participated in the study. All had passed an initial physical examination and were without any limiting disabilities. An initial assessment of physical fitness was accomplished to determine the current status of body composition, strength of the major muscle groups (e.g., legs, trunk, arms, and upper torso), aerobic capacity, previous ath letic history, self-perception of physical fitness, and psychoso matic predisposition. The training and conditioning program (1 hr daily, five to six times a week) involved a series of standard warm-up calisthenics and ...