It was the oddest feeling. Anderson had made the unhappy discovery that the knee is women athletes' Achilles heel. That's still 100,000 fewer knee injuries than men rack up each year, because fewer women play sports or work out. Yet those who do exercise run a much higher knee risk than their male counterparts. But as researchers study the biomechanical differences that make women more prone to knee damage, they're coming up with exercise programs that can reduce the risk and help those who have suffered damage get back in the game.
Runners injure the kneecap and inflame tendons.
Doctors are just beginning to understand why, says Jo Hannafin, orthopedic director of the Women's Sports Medicine Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Some researchers blame hormone cycles, which might cause the ligaments to soften at the monthly estrogen peak. But Hannafin is skeptical. Intuitively, it doesn't make sense to me that a ligament could get weaker or stronger in a two-day period. Focus is shifting to anatomical factors.