THAT’S GOTTA HURT! UH RESEARCHER
STUDIES INJURY TREATMENT FOR FEMALE ATHLETES
Sociologist Investigates Whether Pro Women
Competitors Receive Same Level of Healthcare
HOUSTON, January 3, 2006 – Women’s professional sports
don’t garner the high television ratings that men’s
athletics do, and most female athletes aren’t paid nearly
as much as their male counterparts. Do such disparities also extend
to the treatment women athletes receive for injuries?
That’s a question a University of Houston researcher hopes
to answer with the help of a grant from the Southwest Center for
Occupational and Environmental Health (SCOEH), a research institution
supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH).
Joe Kotarba, UH professor of sociology, already has begun investigating
the level of healthcare received by women athletes who have sustained
sports injuries. He’s interviewed players and staff members
of the Houston Energy women’s football team and plans to tour
Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana to visit other
professional sports organizations. Among the teams he will visit
is the Houston Comets of the WNBA.
This study, Kotarba said, will have implications for occupational
medicine, particularly as it relates to the treatment received by
women. Previously, he has researched male athletes’ medical
care by interviewing numerous professional athletes including baseball
players, tennis players, professional wrestlers and rodeo cowboys.
“The goal of this research is to improve the availability
of health and injury care for all athletes,” Kotarba said.
“The public often does not think of professional athletes
as members of the national workforce. Like every other worker in
America, they also are entitled to sufficient healthcare treatment.
Likewise, both men and women athletes are entitled to equal levels
of care. This research will determine whether they are indeed receiving
that.”
For this study, Kotarba and a team of students will be questioning
female professional athletes regarding the types of injuries sustained
on the field or court and how they’re cared for. He also plans
to examine how team organizations provide healthcare and how female
athletes develop healthcare support groups among themselves.
In his research, Kotarba will examine factors such as injuries
unique to women and the importance of an organization’s resources
for the quality of injury care.
“The more affluent the organization or league, the better
the healthcare will usually be because it will be able to afford
a full-time trainer, medical specialists, and therapeutic equipment,”
he said.
SCOEH is part of the University of Texas School of Public Health
in Houston. Its mission is to promote health, safety, and well being
in the workplace and the community in the southwestern states. NIOSH
is the primary U.S. federal agency responsible for conducting research
into occupational safety and health matters.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
For more information about UH visit
the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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