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Why Females Are More Likely To Get Injured During Pack Marching Activities
Ever wondered why females are more likely to get injured than males when it comes to pack marching and wearing armour in the ADF?
WHY FEMALES ARE MORE LIKELY TO GET INJURED DURING PACK MARCHING ACTIVITIES
4/22/2019
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- As the load of your backpack increases so does your forward leaning posture. This change in posture alters biomechanics up the spine, with the head also adopting a more forward posture. This increase in altered posture leads to unnatural changes in spinal curvature therefore resulting in a higher likelihood of spinal injuries.
- Carrying load impacts the function of your gait (leg movement during walking/running). During pack marches there is an expectation that all soldiers will walk at the same speed and often in the same stride. This can have significant effects on females, especially shorter ones, as both of these can force the individual to exceed their maximum comfortable and safe stride length and speed, leading to stress reactions and stress fractures in the pelvic bone.
- Amenorrhoea – is a dysfunction of the menstrual cycle, which leads to an absence of a regular menstrual cycle. With the cessation of menstruation, hormone balances are disrupted and the uptake of calcium is affected, leading to bone loss and porosity and in turn increases the risk of stress fractures. Research has shown that Amenorrhoea can be caused by several factors in female military soldiers. High intensity physical exercise has been shown to disrupt the menstruation cycle. High levels of stress, often observed during operational deployments. And finally, female soldiers who prefer menstrual suppression during extended, field training activities and deployments.
- Osteoporosis – is an increase in the porosity of bone caused by a decrease in bone mineral density. Although osteoporosis is more commonly found in post menopausal women, female athletes suffering from amenorrhoea and eating disorders are highly susceptible to osteoporosis due to the lack of important nutrient intake, therefore leading to a decrease in bone protection.
- Eating disorders – this doesn’t necessarily relate to body image disorders but more so from females discarding certain items from ration packs due to the taste. Ration packs are designed to provide enough sustenance for soldiers and by preferring to not eat all of it’s contents, you are not consuming enough energy to sustain you during your field activities and/or deployments.