Top > Sport > 2006 > November > 2006-11-10

Sportswomen More Injury-prone during Menstruation

A recent study performed by a Swedish researcher shows that sportswomen are more likely to become injured during their menses than those who are not menstruating. The researcher, Inger Jacobsen, studied the effects of menstruation on professional women in the sports industry and published her startling findings. In the repot, Jacobsen shows that cyclic hormonal fluctuations caused the levels of relaxin in the woman?s body to rise during menstruation. Relaxin is known to relax ligaments and Jacobsen thus found a direct correlation between this fact and occurring injuries.

Using 319 women as case studies, Jacobsen showed that women who were not taking birth control pills were more likely to obtain injuries to their legs, than those who were. It is general knowledge in medical circles that menstruating women are less coordinated, have less postural control and poor reaction time. These factors could also be influential in the statistics put out by Jacobsen, although it is also felt that the drop in oestrogen levels during menses increases pain perception and thus leads to a higher incidence of injuries.

National team doctors have been told of the findings of this report and have had mixed reactions. The women?s FA team doctor, Pippa Bennet, has stated that while players? performance might be affected during menstruation, she doubted that the women on her team felt that they would consider themselves at higher risk.