Key components and potential benefits of a comprehensive approach to women's musculoskeletal health.

Overview

Over the last 40 years there has been a significant increase in the number of female athletes, as well as a rise in musculoskeletal injuries observed in women. There is sufficient evidence from past medical research identifying various musculoskeletal injuries and conditions that more commonly affect women, such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, stress fractures, and anterior cruciate ligament tears. Several women's sports medicine and musculoskeletal health programs have been developed throughout the United States in an attempt to provide more tailored care to the female athlete. The goal of a comprehensive approach to women's musculoskeletal health is to create an interdisciplinary team to facilitate treatment for a variety of injuries and related conditions. This manuscript outlines the musculoskeletal conditions that commonly affect women and highlights the various etiologies of these sex disparities. We discuss the role of interdisciplinary women's musculoskeletal health and sports medicine programs, and define the potential benefits of such an approach. Future studies should focus on assessing the outcomes of multidisciplinary women's sports medicine programs as current literature in this area is lacking.