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The Female Athletic Triad
What is it?
The athletic triad is composed of the three issues that tend to
effect female athletes: amenorrhea, eating disorders, and
osteoporosis. These three issues are of growing concern,
especially due to the increasing pressure on adolescent girls to
maintain an "ideal" body weight. Athletes are not immune to this
kind of pressure. In fact, many sports easily lend themselves to
further increasing the pressure that girls feel to be thin.
Appearance and endurance sports such as gymnastics, dancing,
diving, figure skating, swimming, and distance running are all
sports in which girls frequently are concerned about their weight
and appearance. This can lead to eating disorders, ranging from
poor nutritional habits to anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders
can result in serious endocrine, skeletal, and psychiatric disorders.
The Three Components
Amenorrhea is the lack of menstrual periods. A larger number of
female athletes have amenorrhea than the 5% of women in the
general population with amenorrhea. Why athletes sometimes stop
having their periods or stop having them regularly is not
understood, but it is a well-known phenomenon. The decreased
estrogen levels associated with amenorrhea may be the cause of
premature osteoporosis found among female athletes. Several
methods have been employed to treat premature osteoporosis,
including reducing training intensity and nutritional counseling. It is
very important for athletes to eat properly and to carefully monitor
how much they train. Sometimes, excessive training is a sign of an
eating disorder. Nutrition and training intensity are interconnected
and both must be regulated to help ensure good health for the
athlete.
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