Invest in the Care of the Female Athlete: Don't Fear Our Potential | Kate Ackerman | TEDxBoston

Summary

The speaker, a former elite athlete and sports medicine doctor, advocates for a comprehensive center to support female athletes' health and performance across their lifespan. She discusses the importance of Title IX, her journey in sports, and the need for interdisciplinary care. The speaker highlights the lack of resources for female athletes, the challenges they face, and her efforts to create change through education, research, and collaboration.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The speaker envisions a comprehensive center for female athletes to receive interdisciplinary medical care and education to optimize their performance throughout their lives.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Female athletes need education on puberty changes, menstrual cycle advantages, sex-specific injury prevention, nutrition, mental health support, and training through pregnancy and menopause.
• 📊 The involvement in sports for females correlates with success in various aspects of life, including better GPAs and higher graduation rates.
• 🏆 Title IX in 1972 was a pivotal legislation that mandated equal sporting opportunities for women and girls, influencing the speaker's journey as an athlete and advocate.
• 👩‍⚕️ The speaker's personal journey includes a transformation from a non-sporty child to an elite athlete, a sports medicine doctor, and a fierce advocate for women's rights in sports.
• 🚸 The lack of specialized medical care for female athletes was evident during the speaker's time at the Olympic Training Center, highlighting the need for change.
• 🔍 The speaker's attempt to survey former female athletes about their health and experiences was initially met with resistance, indicating a lack of重视 of women's health in sports.
• 🎓 Overcoming initial setbacks, the speaker pursued further education in biostatistics, epidemiology, internal medicine, sports medicine, and endocrinology to better serve female athletes.
• 🌐 The establishment of a female athlete program and an international conference on female athletes signifies progress in addressing the unique needs of female athletes.
• 📈 Despite the COVID-19 pandemic's disruptions, the female athlete clinic saw an increase in demand, highlighting the ongoing challenges female athletes face with stress, over-exercising, under-fueling, and body image issues.
• 💪 The speaker's involvement in a women's health task force and the WUS AI Human Performance Alliance underscores a growing recognition of the importance of specialized care and research for female athletes.

Q & A

What is the vision for the place where female athletes could receive interdisciplinary medical care?

The vision is to create a center where female athletes can receive comprehensive care including education on physical changes during puberty, advice on using menstrual cycles for performance, sex-specific injury prevention, nutritional guidance, mental health support, and training through pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause.

How does the speaker's birth year relate to her story?

The speaker was born in 1972, the same year Title IX was enacted, which mandated equal sporting opportunities for girls and women in federally funded programs. This legislation had a significant impact on her life, as it likely contributed to her becoming an elite athlete and an advocate for women in sports.

What was the speaker's initial involvement in sports?

The speaker initially was not very sporty as a child, focusing more on music and theater. It was not until college that she discovered rowing, where she was allowed to walk on without any cuts, despite not being particularly good initially.

What are some of the benefits the speaker experienced from athletic involvement?

The speaker experienced improved fitness, better overall health, increased confidence, and better academic performance. She also found her community and eventually made the varsity team.

What challenges did the speaker face as an athlete in terms of medical care?

The speaker faced challenges such as coaches using the same workouts for male and female athletes without considering differences in weight classes, lack of specific medical checks for female athletes like iron deficiency, and body composition tests used more for coaches' purposes than for the athletes' health.

What is the Female Athlete Triad and how was it relevant to the speaker's experience?

The Female Athlete Triad is a combination of low energy availability, menstrual dysfunction, and poor bone health leading to stress fractures. The speaker witnessed this among her teammates, who lost their menstrual cycles due to hard training and developed poor body image, without understanding the condition or receiving proper medical care.

Why did the speaker decide to pursue further education in sports medicine?

The speaker decided to pursue further education to combine her medical career with women's sports, as she felt female athletes deserved better care and understanding. She was interested in the interdisciplinary nature of sports medicine, including physiology, endocrine hormones, cardiovascular systems, mental health, and nutrition.

What was the outcome of the speaker's attempt to survey former female athletes through the U.S. Olympic Committee?

The U.S. Olympic Committee initially refused the speaker's request to survey former female athletes, citing concerns about the potential negative image it could portray for women. This led the speaker to further her education and eventually contribute more significantly to the field.

How did the speaker's male boss support her career?

The speaker's male boss believed in her vision and in 2013 gave her the opportunity to launch a female athlete program, which was a significant step in her career and towards improving female athlete care.

What is the significance of the international female athlete conference mentioned in the script?

The international female athlete conference is significant as it brings together coaches, athletes, parents, and medical professionals to discuss and educate on the needs of female athletes. It has grown to include participants from over 32 countries and fosters international collaboration and research.

What challenges did female athletes face during the 2020 pandemic, as mentioned in the script?

During the 2020 pandemic, female athletes faced increased stress, leading to over-exercising, under-fueling, body image concerns, injuries, and severe eating disorders. The speaker's female athlete clinic saw an increase in demand as they dealt with these issues.

What is the WUS AI Human Performance Alliance and the speaker's role in it?

The WUS AI Human Performance Alliance is an initiative that aims to discover principles of peak performance and translate them to youth athlete development, athletic excellence, resiliency, and healthy long life spans. The speaker was asked to lead the female athlete component of this alliance.

What is the speaker's challenge to the audience regarding female athletes?

The speaker challenges the audience to join her in encouraging investment in women's sports, to demand more from sports companies, medical institutions, and foundations, and to challenge the status quo to help female athletes realize their full potential.