Female, woman, and girl sport has never been more visible (1). This rise in popularity is accompanied by increasing injury rates (2). This blog gives a summary of a recent systematic review done to identify prevention strategies and risk factors for female/woman/girl athletes spine, chest, abdominal and/or pelvic injury/pain (3), which informed the International Olympic […]
Tag: Female athlete
Can the Menstrual Cycle Phase Impact Sports Performance?
Author: Ellen Zaradić Keywords: female athlete, menstrual cycle, performance Introduction The menstrual cycle (MC) is a central feature of female physiology. Across the MC, concentrations of sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone fluctuate, influencing physiological systems, including cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic and neuromuscular parameters. Subsequently, it has been hypothesised that the MC phase could affect sports […]
Inside the Ropes: A Clinical Perspective from the 2025 Scottish Women’s Open
Reflections on Shadowing a Sports and Exercise Medicine Doctor in Elite Women’s Golf Introduction Given Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) is not currently a specialty offered in the UK Foundation Programme rotations, clinical experience must be gained during ‘taster’ days or during days off. I am very grateful to Professor Andrew Murray and Dr Emma […]
Understanding the female athletes’ heart
Key words: exercise, sex differences, heart Why is this study important? This blog is a summary of a recently published BJSM study (1). The heart of the athlete often demonstrates physical changes as a result of regular endurance training such as bigger chamber or ‘ventricular’ size[2, 3] . However, this phenomenon has predominantly been described […]
Female Athlete Hormone Health 2022 – NICE guideline update
What’s new for female hormone health? At the start of the year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) updated the guidelines for the management of bone health in the situation of amenorrhoea with low oestrogen. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is advised, rather than the combined oral […]
Challenging gendered norms in sport and physical activity: implications for injury prevention
Part of the BJSM’s #KnowledgeTranslation blog series The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury rate for athletes in girls’/women’s sport has not changed in over 20 years, and they remain 3-6 times more likely to experience this injury when compared with athletes in boys’/men’s sport. Injury prevention research in this area has, to date, focused heavily […]
Does injury incidence really change across the menstrual cycle? Highlighting a recent key study
Part of the BJSM Knowledge translation series. *This is a plain language translation of a non-BJSM article. Any concerns about the scientific content of the original paper should be directed towards the publishing journal. Why does this question need to be asked? Women’s football is booming. Increased professionalism of football clubs, investment and commercial interest […]
Celebrating #InternationalWomensDay2021
Diversity, inclusion and equity are three of the BJSM’s core principles, and the journal is firmly committed to ensuring that these lie at the heart of all its work. So, this #InternationalWomensDay, we want to shine a light on some of the amazing work being done around the world to further female athlete health and […]
Is it safe to exercise during pregnancy?
By Ida Lysdahl Fahrenholtz Women at low-risk pregnancy are encouraged to do at least 150 minutes of moderate physically activity per week or 20-30 minutes per day (ACOG, 2015). It is safe for female athletes and other women who have been physically active before pregnancy to largely maintain their training habits, while inactive women are […]
Highlights from “Play Like a Girl”, Sports Medicine Australia’s Canberra Symposium
By Nash Anderson and Mark Trbojevich In the week after the FIFA Women’s World Cup we reflect on “How female athletes stay fit to play and own the podium”. In May 2019, Sports Medicine Australia (SMA) hosted the symposium in Canberra, the national capital. Despite the increase in professional sporting competitions for female athletes including […]