How Could Your Daughter Fall Victim To Female Athlete Triad?

Sometimes it happens very unintentionally, maybe just a lack of proper nutrition.

For Stacey, it was different.

Stacey was a very observant young woman and an over-achiever. As a dancer, she wanted to be the best. She wanted to be on a college dance team and maybe get a scholarship so her parents would not have as much financial burden.

Stacey listened to the varsity dancers talking about their diets, what they did and didn’t eat. She felt their bodies looked better than hers, so she started her own extreme dieting based on things she heard other girls say.

Her dance coach even told the team that losing a couple of pounds could benefit their performance and better their chances for dancing in the future. This further prompted her.

Stacey started to reduce her calorie intake and practiced dancing for hours, sometimes with the team and sometimes on her own. She even started jogging at home to burn additional calories. She became obsessed with diet and exercise. It was all she could talk about – working out and diet.

Behaviors like these should be a red flag for parents.

Red Flags for Female Athlete Triad Syndrome:

Here are some of the other signs and symptoms that parents should look for:

• Low body weight
• Excessive dieting
• Lethargy, lack of energy
• Obsessed with exercise
• Abnormal or absent menstrual cycle
• Easily fractures bones (stress fractures) or easily breaks bones

The female athlete triad is most common in sports which have weight requirements including, but not limited to:

• Distance running
• Track
• Gymnastics
• Dance, ballet, cheerleading
• Bodybuilding
• Figure Skating

How Can You Screen for Female Triad Syndrome?

If you think your daughter might be going through this, make an appointment with your family’s general practitioner. Talk to the doctor in advance and express your concerns, maybe not in front of your daughter. You might even want your child’s coach to give input on their observations.

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Your primary care physician should be able to conduct a special screening during a routine physical to assess for disordered eating, menstrual irregularity, and low bone density. Thein-Nissenbaum et al. (2011) suggest that high school athletes should be assessed for the triad components at pre-participation physicals. Make sure you ask for it.

Treatment

Depending on what components of the triad your daughter experiences determines the type of treatment she will require. It may include a whole team of different types of specialists including, but not limited to a team physician, a sports dietician, a mental health professional, an athletic trainer, an exercise physiologist and medical consultants according to Gottschlich et al. (2014). Your doctor or doctors will guide you through the recovery process.

Conclusion

It’s important to pay attention to the small details when it comes to observing your athletic teenage daughter. Talk with her about the importance of staying healthy and monitor her health. If you have seen changes in her eating patterns, have concerns about her health due to changes in menstruation or recurring stress fractures, or think she already has other symptoms of female athlete triad, contact your family doctor. Don’t wait, the consequences could last a life-time.