The female athlete, and her propensity to have lower extremity injuries has been studied and length, and these injuries have been connected to the angles of the hips, elasticity of tendons during menstrual cycles, and any number of other causes.
The fact remains that most female athletes train in one sport, and in that sport they move and train in a linear (straight forward) movement pattern. This type of training and play leads to muscle/tendon strength and flexibility imbalances.
In order to stave off lower extremity injury, the athlete must be asked to train and play in multiple directions. These different directions must be attacked at game like speed and power, in order to simulate situation that the athlete may see in game play.
Encouraging the athlete to run and jump in all four directions will help decrease the possibility of major injury.
An interesting piece of research on predicting injury in athletes using a right/left leg balance test can be found here:
balance and the female athlete
In the SEBT (Star Excursion Balance Test) test, athletes stand on each foot and reach as far as they can with the other foot in three directions: 12, 4, and 8 o’clock on a clock face. “The test requires flexibility, strength, balance, and coordination,”
In the study, two variables proved the best indicators of injury risk: the difference between reaches with the left and right legs, and total-reach distance, which is the sum of reaches in all three directions. The researchers found that players with a more than four-centimeter (1.5 inch) difference between right and left reaches were more than twice as likely to suffer an injury than those with a smaller difference. And girls whose total-reach distance was less than 94 percent of their leg length were 6.5 times more likely to suffer a lower-body injury than girls with scores a
bove 94 percent
