Greeshma Prabhu, B.P.T., M.S.Several decades ago, the US Government passed the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which eliminated sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving Federal aid. This law led to a rise in the female participation in sports over time, up to more than 150,000 women playing sports today. The “female athletic triad” is a term given to the presence of three conditions, namely disordered eating, osteoporosis, and amenorrhea, w...

Faith A. Lightfoot, BSE What do gymnasts Kathy Johnson, Nadia Comaneci and Cathy Rigby have in common? Over the past years they have all come forward and admitted to fighting an eating disorder. Cathy Rigby, a 1972 Olympian, battled anorexia and bulimia for 12 years. She went into cardiac arrest on two occasions as a result of it. Whether the eating disorder is anorexia, reduced food intake or bulimia, excessive eating and purging, this disorder is not going away in the sports field. In 197...