Poor nutrition from eating disorders, and excessive exercise contribute to this problem. Decreased estrogen associated with amenorrhea, along with decreased calcium intake from eating disorders leads to decreased mineralization of bone. This can increase the risk of stress fractures in these athletes. Multiple stress fractures or fractures associated with limited activity should raise a red flag for the female triad. Parents, coaches, friends and professional assistance are required.
Treatment includes nutritional guidance, emotional support and psychiatric guidance.
Hormonal replacement therapy may be required. Female athletes as a group are not as strong as their male counterparts. Studies have shown that with weight training, females will increase their strength percentage wise in equal increments to males, but that their overall strength will begin and end at lower levels. Leg length in women is a smaller percentage of overall body length, and may be one reason that females tend to be slower runners than men. It is speculated that women may in fact be more suited physiologically to endurance activity than men due to an enhance ability to conserve muscle glycogen and ability to utilize fat for energy.