Week 5

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Hello all, something I have mentioned before is that I am a HUGE exercise science nerd. So, I am super excited to talk more about something that came up in class briefly that has been a big focus in some of my other classes. You may have guessed it by the title which is currently the most common term for this condition: The female athlete triad.

As you can tell by the name and see in the graphic three components make up this medical condition, but the thing is a person doesn’t have to display all three to be affected. Prevention or early diagnosis is key because some of the consequences are irreversable once the damage has been done.

So what is it?

Basically it all starts with poor nutrition or energy deficiency. Physically active people burn more calories so they need to have more intake to keep up with their metabolic expenditure needs. This isn’t just athletes either, anyone who is active could develop improper food habits and fall into this condition. An eating disorder could also play a factor here, but it isn’t always a part of the condition. Sports which are highly aesthetic based (think ice skating, dance, gymnastics) can be especially bad about having demanding training programs, but also having strict diets or nutrient restrictions to maintain a certain look. Long distance runners can also burn so many calories that it is impossible for them to intake what they need to replace what they’ve used. This lack of proper nutrition and therfore energy drains the impacted person and kick starts the condition.

If a woman is not feeding herself enough to maintain her bodies high energy expenditure rate then the body recognizes that pregnancy is not a viable option at the time. It basically understands that it can’t sustain itself and so taking on the challenge of sustaining a rapidly developing and nutrient needy fetus isn’t possible. This is why the menstrual dysfunction of the condition begins. Infrequent or absences of periods can occur and aenorrhea (which we learned in class too!) can set in. Obviously this creates issues for adults trying to have children. However, young athletes who havn’t started puberty yet can be severely delayed in development if effected by this condition. Hormones can be throw all off and one which is particullary important and impacts the third component of the triad is estrogen.

Low estrogen levels negitevly impact bone density. This is where most of the long term impact concern for this condition stems from. Young growing athletes are of particular concern again because failure to obtain optimal bone density in youth puts them at a much higher risk of issues later on in life. Osteopenia and osteoperosis can occur as a result of this condition and these are mostly irreversible. I’ve included some pictures below of what osteoporosis looks like and at different stages.

Trust me, we don’t need the increased risk of broken bones! Humans are clumsy enough already, especially as we get older. We don’t need the increased risk of breaking our hip when we fall!

Now, in the very begining I mentioned that the female athlete triad is the most common name for this condition. New research has found some interesting stuff that calls for the condition to be renamed because parallels have been found IN MEN! I can’t remember the new term that has been suggested, but since it is relately new in the research world some are still fighting the changes/saying it is an entirely different concept (for the obvious reasons that it effects men a little differently). I was lucky enough to attend a presentation at our school on some of this male research. It was conducted on cross country runners accumulating large mileage numbers and was looking at how this effected testosterone levels and the implications of lowered levels. It’s some very cool stuff!

Anyway, thanks for sticking around for the long nerd post! I hope you enjoyed/learned something.