Abstract:
The female athlete triad is a well-known syndrome that has an impact on two
interconnected conditions such as Eating Disorder (ED) and Menstrual
Dysfunction (MD). As a result of such conditions, Females have particular reasons
to sustain injury situations. Musculoskeletal injuries (MI) are defined as any injury
to the bones, muscles, ligaments, nerves, or tendons that causes discomfort. The
main purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between eating
disorders, menstrual dysfunction, and musculoskeletal injuries among selected
female national athletes in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted as a retrospective
cohort study. One hundred female athletes who represent the national level in
selected sports between the ages of 20-30 were selected as the study sample from
a random sampling method. The sample consisted of Basketball (14), Cricket (28),
Football (22), Hockey (22), and Netball (14) playing females excluding mothers and
pregnant women. Data were collected through Eating Disorder Examination
Questionnaire (EDE-Q) which includes information regarding ED and MD and
Modified Standard Musculoskeletal Injury Questionnaire. Spearman correlation
test, ANOVA, and Tukey pairwise comparison test was used to analyze data using
Minitab 19 software. The average ED, MD, and MI of athletes were 12.9, 20%, and
1.3 respectively. There was no relationship between ED and MD (r = −0.022, p >
0.05); ED and MI (r = 0.122, p > 0.05) and MI and MD (r = 0.079, p > 0.05). ED and
MI were not significantly different among athletes engaged in different sports
categories (p > 0.05). Furthermore, MD was also not significantly different among
athletes engaged in different categories of sports (p > 0.05). In conclusion, there is
no relationship between eating disorders, menstrual dysfunction, and
musculoskeletal injuries among female athletes.
