Mia Krysa

For the past five weeks, I’ve written about the gaps in equity between men and women’s sports, and posted articles on LinkedIn. I’ve done tons of research, spent hours on assignments, and written hundreds of words. As a sports marketer for the Connecticut Sun, I spend almost every day working for athletes. I send out emails, work in the team app, write copy for paid social posts, curate the newsletter, write for the podcast, and more.

While working for a professional women’s team, I think a lot about the importance of equal pay, equal representation, equal media coverage, and the safety of women athletes. While these are important issues, there’s another forgotten equity gap — the medical research gap.

Beyond Pay and Coverage

It’s not surprising to know that medical research has often been performed on men, by men. So, many of the treatment plans or recovery plans that women athletes might use to help themselves may not work as well. Without taking athletes into account, there’s a jarring statistic that “despite living longer than men on average, women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health” and “approximately 1% of healthcare research and innovation is invested in female-specific conditions beyond oncology.”

ACL Tears

As a women’s basketball fan, I’ve heard tons of stories and even seen ACL tears on the court. And actually, women are six times more likely to tear their ACL’s than men. This is due to a few different reasons.

“Anatomy: Women generally have wider hips compared to men and are often more knocked-kneed, which means their knees tend to tilt inward. This alignment alters the knee joint, increasing the risk of ACL injuries during movements such as jumping, pivoting and landing. The ACL tissue is also typically thinner in women, so it takes a less force to tear.“

“Biomechanics: When women land, it’s usually in an upright posture, resulting in straighter knees and less core engagement. This is different from men who usually land with bent knees and with more core engagement.”

“Hormones: Research shows that the elasticity of collagen in the knee is impacted throughout different stages in the menstrual cycle, resulting in a higher risk of ACL injury.”

My LinkedIn Article

In my LinkedIn article (which is scheduled for tomorrow morning), I wrote a bit more in depth about ACL tears and how we can try to move forward as a society in performing more research. And prioritizing women in this research. We need more investment in research that centers women athletes, more training and recovery programs built specifically for women’s bodies, and more women leading the conversations in sports science. If we want women’s sports to thrive, protecting athletes’ health is just as important as paying them fairly or broadcasting their games on national television.

Looking Ahead

Through proper research, and the right advocates, I really believe that women’s sports has the chance to become as popular as men’s sports. The more women continue to work in sports, uplift other women, the more women play sports, and the more people invest in women’s sports — it’ll all add up over time and make a difference.