Sports Medicine Considerations When Caring for the Transgender Athlete

Arthrosc Sports Med Rehabil. 2023 May 24;5(4):100736. doi: 10.1016/j.asmr.2023.04.019. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Orthopaedic surgeons and other orthopaedic care providers have expressed a desire to care for transgender patients but have a self-perceived knowledge deficit. Transgender athletes experience many psychosocial barriers to sport that are useful for clinicians to understand. Medical and surgical gender-affirming care can impact musculoskeletal physiology and pathophysiology. Transgender women (TW) have demonstrated an increased risk of insufficiency fractures and thromboembolism in patients receiving exogenous estrogen therapy. The impact of gender-affirming care on sex-based differences in athletic injuries is less well studied.