TOPLINE:

In professional women’s football, injuries sustained during menstrual bleeding led to three times the amount of lost time on the field compared with injuries that occurred during non-bleeding phases. 

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed menstrual cycle and injury data from 33 professional female football players from a single professional team in Spain over four consecutive seasons beginning in 2019, with 11 players included throughout all seasons.
• Women self-reported the beginning and end of menstrual bleeding using a digital tool called E-keep.
• The analysis included 852 menstrual cycles, with injuries categorized as time-lost if they missed from a training session or match.
• Researchers compared injury incidence per 1000 exposure hours between bleeding and non-bleeding phases.

TAKEAWAY:

• Researchers recorded 80 injuries with an overall incidence rate of 6.42 per 1000 hours (95% CI, 5.09-7.99); 18 (22.5%) injuries took place during a match and 62 (77.5%) occurred during training sessions, while 11 (13.7%) occurred during menstrual bleeding and 69 (86.2%) during non-bleeding periods.
• The most frequent types of injuries were muscle injuries (57.5%), followed by ligament injuries (30%) and tendon injuries (12.5%).
• Ligament injuries had the highest amount of time away from play, with 187 days lost, and the longest median day loss (29 days), with a lower incidence compared with muscle injuries (1.92 vs 3.69; P = 2.6 × 10^-6).
• Injuries during menstrual bleeding led to more time lost in matches or training than injuries during non-bleeding (684 vs 206 days lost per 1000 hours; P = .0027).

IN PRACTICE:

“These findings highlight the importance of individualized menstrual tracking for injury prevention and athlete health management,” the study authors wrote. “Further research with precise hormonal monitoring is needed to confirm these observations and to inform training, recovery, and health strategies in female athletes.”

SOURCE:

This study was led by Eva Ferrer, of the FC Barcelona Medical Department in Barcelona, Spain. It was published online on December 16 in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.

LIMITATIONS:

There were less injuries that occurred during menstrual bleeding than non-bleeding phases, which may limit the study’s statistical strength. Factors like sleep, nutrition, and symptom severity were not measured. 

DISCLOSURES:

Two of the study authors reported employment with FC Barcelona Medical Department. No other financial disclosures were reported.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.