The number of women involved in high school and college athletics has tripled in the past thirty years—from 840,000 to more than 2.6 million. That’s good news because, compared to their inactive peers, active women have higher self-esteem, are better scholars, and are at less risk for diabetes, depression, cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. But increased participation in sports has also uncovered the fact that females are more likely than males to suffer sports-related injuries, such as stress fractures and tears in the knee’s anterior cruciate ligament.

To increase our understanding of women’s fitness, including why women are more prone to sports injuries than men, the department of orthopaedics and sports medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine recently established the first Endowed Chair in Women’s Sports Medicine and Lifetime Fitness.
According to 1984 Olympic Skiing gold medalist Debbie Armstrong, the new chair will be a huge help to many women athletes in the future, whether they’re into serious competition or simply want to stay in shape throughout their lifetimes. “Sports can be such a positive factor in the lives of women. The endowment of this chair marks a tremendous step forward in the search to understand the special needs of women athletes in terms of injury prevention and recovery,” she says.

The chair has been established through $1.7 million in private gifts from donors from the Seattle community, and will be the catalyst for a $10 million fundraising effort to establish the United States’ first Endowed Center for Women’s Sports Medicine and Lifetime Fitness. The goal of this center is to extend the benefits of cutting edge research to individuals at risk for osteoporosis fractures and those at risk from participation in sports.