INJURED? HOW IS YOUR STRESS?

Could stress be the reason for my sports injury?  I noticed a pattern of increased injuries within the high school athletes as there stress from school and other activities increased (Final exams, AP classes, home stress and/or friend dynamics).  This was such a noticeable trend I started to study how the body responds to stress and how this response increased the risk for specific types of injury, specifically stress fractures in female atheletes.  

The stress response within the body creates excess cortisol causing a cascade of internal compensating mechanisms that tax the other hormones and glands: thyroid, insulin, progesterone, testosterone, serotonin, DHEA.  As a result,stressed people burn certain minerals in their bodies that are used in hormone production and regulation.  There are both immediate and chronic effects.  Urine and hair analysis of people undergoing recent acute stress shows an immediate loss of calcium, magnesium and zinc. (1)

This systemic response to personal stress frequently causes mineral imbalances that disturb the electrical functions that dominate human and animal physiology.  Chronic metabolic and psychological dysfunction can result. (1)

The question I am starting to ask is if it is possible that a student athlete that has an increased cortisol level in their body from stress is at higher risk for an injury if their recovery time and training are not adjusted until their stress level has been lowered?   Also, is this risk higher for female athlete specifically  in relationship to  stress fractures?  

I am not the only person observing the increased risk for female athletes. Below is the bottom line provided by Robert H. Schmreling, MD, Harvard Health Publishing, in his December 3, 2015 Blog “The Gender Gap in Sports Injuries” (2)

A female athlete may be just as fit (or more so) than her male counterpart, yet there appear to be different vulnerabilities among men and women for certain athletic injuries. Lack of recognition, an incomplete understanding of why injury risks are increased among women, and athletic training programs that don’t take these differences into account are all part of the problem. However, there are some ways to counter this. Even though anatomy and biology may not be easily modified, the difference in injury rates between male and female athletes is a reason to promote additional research so that we can understand these differences better and figure out how to prevent injuries in both genders. (2)