Common Corpus No. 7
For all women, for life
Welcome back to Common Corpus, our weekly curation of the best evidence-based women’s health content designed to help you navigate, optimize, and advocate for your well-being at every stage of life.
This week, we look at why ACL injuries are so much more common in female athletes and the simple fix for prevention, the first major innovation in instruments for assisted births since the 1950s, new data on the safety of MHT, and much more.
We hope you find this week’s resources insightful, useful, and empowering as you navigate your own health journey. If you’re enjoying Common Corpus and finding it useful, please share it with anyone else who might be interested.
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News & Noteworthy
What’s making the news in women’s health
Why are ACL injuries more common amongst females?
This fascinating article delves into the youth sports industry, revealing a devastating epidemic of ACL tears among teenage female athletes, a crisis driven not just by biology, but by a sports culture that is failing to properly train and protect them.
Teenage girls currently tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) at three to six times the rate of their male counterparts, with injury rates among high school girls surging 32% over a recent 15-year period.
While these injuries have historically been dismissed as the inevitable result of female anatomy (such as a wider pelvis) or hormonal joint laxity, experts now point to a “perfect storm” of early, year-round sport specialization and the modern loss of diverse, unstructured free play.
A massive gender gap in sports science means many young women are trained using conditioning models built for male bodies, delaying vital strength training and failing to develop the specific neuromuscular control female joints require to safely absorb impact.
Compounding the issue is a hyper-competitive youth sports culture that chronically prioritizes tactics, immediate wins, and extra scrimmage time over foundational movement quality and proper jump-landing mechanics.
The ultimate tragedy of this crisis is that proven, evidence-based neuromuscular warm-up programs—such as the widely studied FIFA 11+—already exist and can dramatically reduce the risk of ACL injuries by 50% to 80%.
Despite their massive efficacy, these 20-minute preventative routines are heavily under-utilized, with less than one-third of youth coaches making use of them due to a lack of awareness and an absence of safety mandates from sports governing bodies.
The long-term consequences of these preventable tears are severe, frequently robbing young women of college athletic opportunities, plunging them into gruelling surgical rehabs, and drastically increasing their lifetime risk of chronic pain and early-onset osteoarthritis.
The takeaway: This reframes the high rate of ACL tears in young girls from an unavoidable biological fate to a highly preventable structural failure within youth sports. The critical takeaway is that parents and athletic programs must demand the integration of injury prevention protocols into mandatory daily practice routines. Ultimately, holding youth sports cultures accountable for implementing these proven safeguards is essential to ensure girls can safely enjoy the physical and mental benefits of athletics without sacrificing their long-term joint health.
Transforming assisted births? A new delivery instrument promises just that
A revolutionary new birthing device is officially being rolled out across European hospitals as a gentle, highly effective alternative to forceps and vacuum extractors.
The OdonAssist device, which originated from an idea by an Argentine inventor almost two decades ago, uses a soft, inflatable air cuff to gently grip and guide the baby’s head through the birth canal during contractions.
Unlike traditional forceps or ventouse (vacuum) extractors, the OdonAssist distributes pressure evenly, dramatically reducing the risk of maternal tearing and neonatal soft-tissue bruising.
Following extensive testing and overwhelmingly positive feedback from participating mothers, the device recently received its safety approval and is officially being introduced into routine obstetric care.
The takeaway: This breakthrough represents a modernization of instruments for assisted birth, which have seen little innovation since the 1950s, providing a significantly safer, less traumatic option for prolonged or complicated labor.
The Latest Research
The latest in academic research in women’s health
New study shows menopause hormone therapy is not associated with higher mortality rates
A large, nationwide cohort study analyzing nearly a million women has confirmed that systemic menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is not associated with an increased risk of long-term mortality. For over two decades, the global use of hormone therapy drastically declined due to lingering, pervasive fears from the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study that originally linked the treatment to an increased risk of cancer, strokes, and heart attacks. However, this new registry-based research, which tracked Danish women for a median of 14 years, found no significant differences in cancer-specific or cardiovascular-specific death rates between MHT users and non-users. The study revealed a highly protective benefit for women who underwent the surgical removal of both ovaries between ages 45 and 54, showing a 27% to 34% decrease in mortality among those who subsequently used hormone therapy. This research provides much-needed, evidence-based reassurance that actively and effectively treating menopause does not compromise a woman's overall longevity.
Listen & Learn
The latest in women’s health audio content worth your time
Colon cancer is rising in women under 50 with Dr. Beth Moore
In this episode of the SHE MD podcast, colorectal surgeon Dr. Beth Moore dismantles the dangerous myth that colon cancer is an “older man’s disease.” This conversation is crucial for women of all ages, especially those under 50, who are currently facing an alarming rise in colorectal cancer. It matters because nearly 80% of colon cancer cases occur in patients with absolutely no family history, meaning proactive screening and symptom awareness are a crucial first line of defence. A vital takeaway is that the colonoscopy remains the undisputed gold standard of care, not just because it detects cancer early, but because it actively prevents the disease by allowing doctors to seamlessly identify and remove precancerous polyps. Ultimately, this episode is an important reminder of the need to be aware of symptoms and proactive about screening for and prevention of colorectal cancer.
The Global Perspective
Women’s health around the world
Does online gender-based violence threaten democracy?
A sobering recent Guardian report highlights how technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) has escalated into a profound democratic crisis by systematically silencing women online. Driven by the rise of deepfakes, doxxing, and highly sexualized cyberbullying, this digital abuse disproportionately targets women in public life, prompting 76% of victims to alter their social media presence and nearly a third to stop sharing their opinions altogether. While enacting protective laws is a necessary step, safety requires governments and tech companies to actively enforce these regulations, invest in digital literacy, and curb the weaponization of artificial intelligence. This issue matters immensely because the coordinated online harassment of female politicians, activists, and journalists is not merely a personal threat, but one that compromises the integrity of political discourse and elections.
Common Interest
Quick hits that we found interesting, thought-provoking, or useful this week
A fascinating and highly important read on why algorithmic censorship of women’s health content on social media is so damaging and perpetuates shame, stigma and health illiteracy. LINK
This campaign song to de-stigmatize anatomically correct vocabulary when talking about women’s bodies by UK-based GP, Dr. Aziza Sesay, is rather catchy. LINK
This Unbiased Science substack breaks down menopause ‘wellness’ trends, helpfully separating marketing from medicine. LINK