In my last blog entry I talked about differences between men and women in terms of their health profiles and vulnerabilities. We are learning more and more about the differences that exist between the sexes in terms of susceptibility to certain ailments.

When it comes to health-related disparities, it's not just about the heart, lungs, gallbladder, and other organs. We also have fairly dramatic differences in our musculoskeletal systems. One might think that muscles, bones, and joints would be pretty similar between the sexes - but interestingly, they are not.

Here's just a few of the fascinating differences (and some possibly surprising similarities):

• Osteoporosis, a gradual weakening of bones, is much more common in women (especially when estrogen levels start to decline) but also occurs in men. So fall-related fractures (especially hip, wrist, and spine/vertebral) are much more common in females.
• Men have more sports related injuries (because more boys and men are involved in sports) but women are actually more vulnerable to certain sports injuries. For example, females are five to seven times more likely than their male athlete counterparts to tear the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in their knee joint - a major injury for any athlete or active individual.
• Boys and girls land differently from jumps. Actually as small children, things are pretty equal, but around the time of puberty, and final growth spurts, things change dramatically. High-speed video analysis reveals that boys continue to land more squarely with hips and knees bending. Girls tend to either land "stiff-kneed" or the knees tend to buckle in slightly (i.e. knees move inward closer together toward the midline during the landing). Both of these landing patterns make the female knee much more vulnerable to ACL tears (see above). Fortunately, females (and males) can do certain jump/landing neuromuscular re-training programs to make the knee less vulnerable to injury.

In my next few blog entries, I will cover more muscle, bone, and joint differences between the sexes. Please add your comments and concerns about these gender/health differences. Do you think that doctors treat men and women with the same exact ailment differently? Should they?