Challenges Women Face Training Through the Menstrual Cycle
by Melinda Burris
It’s one of those subjects, like menopause for example. Monthly menstrual cycles are a natural bodily process for women (even athletes) from their adolescence through their childbearing years, but it’s still a subject considered taboo or too embarrassing to discuss aloud. But we need to talk about it because it impacts women physically and emotionally and female athletes of all ranks need to realize this monthly occurrence and its effects must be factored into their training plans, performance expectations, and an awareness of a heightened risk of sustaining certain injuries on particular days each month.
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Why has it taken so long for this public conversation to be normalized? The co-head of physiology at the English Institute of Sport (EIS), Dr. Emma Ross, attributes a substantial proportion of the tendency to downplay the importance of this subject as a topic for debate and further study to what she categorizes as a predisposition among women to frequently “normalize a lot of these things, and just put up with them.”
Education, or the lack thereof, is another vital factor Dr. Ross maintains, claiming that more than 70% of women have not had access to proper education and instruction about the menstrual cycle and its consequences to a healthy or even elite professional exercise routine. If women continue to look at it as an inconvenience or fact of life that women and girls simply have to learn to live with, important conversations do not get started and no progress is made. With more people prioritizing living a health-conscious lifestyle, and women making up at least half of the population, experts declare it’s time to have discussions that raise awareness and inform women and the sports community.1
How Do You Remain Active When It’s That Time of the Month?
What exactly are the challenges to remaining active and competitive during ‘that time of the month’? To answer that, let’s discuss common menstrual cycle symptoms and why and how they can often make ‘staying the training course’ a real challenge! Common complaints associated with menstruation include bloating, cramps that can vary from mild to excruciating, breast tenderness, and decreased energy levels that manifest as excessive fatigue or a lack of motivation1,2,3 to get up and go, let alone get up and sprint or tackle clearing hurdles!
The good news is, research shows that if you can manage to get up and get a move on, odds are you will find that getting out and engaging in some endorphin-releasing activity will give you a more positive mental outlook and that once focused on the game or challenge at hand, you will stop concentrating as much on the discomfort you are feeling!2
On top of the discomfort and inconvenience all women experience when going through their monthly cycle, sportswomen frequently experience the indignity of having their right to personal privacy surrounding their healthcare impinged upon. The governing bodies of some sports associations (AKA, ‘the powers that be’), actually keep records of female athletes’ menstrual cycles. Thanks to modern birth control advancements and well-planned consultations with healthcare providers, some women can control the timing of their periods, avoiding having them occur at highly inconvenient times, such as during a key qualifying event or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like an Olympic competition. Unfortunately, some find they are left with no choice but to continue with their performance, sometimes captured on live video grimacing and struggling to do their best to cope, often attempting to use rolling or stretching exercises to help alleviate the pain.2
Women Can’t be Coached or Trained Like Men
Scholars as well as current and former female athletes, including recently retired UK netballer Clare Jones, generally agree with the assertion that most of the research to date on effective athletic training for females has been founded on the methods that have proven successful for men.1 This approach is faulty for numerous reasons, one of which is that women experience a monthly cycle during which their hormones fluctuate markedly, causing what Dr. Emma Ross calls “powerful effects on our bodily system, emotions, and mood.” As she points out, “This difference alone has the potential to mean women will adapt to training differently at different points of their cycle.”1
The Link Between the Menstrual Cycle and an Increased Proclivity for Sustaining Soft-tissue Injuries
Scientific research suggests anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries—the knee injury most dreaded by athletes and their trainers because of its ability to cause severe injury that can involve surgery, rehabilitation, and extended recuperation times with the knee often never fully recovering, occur more often in women than in men. According to Dr. Ross, the female body’s natural production of the hormone estrogen during the menstrual cycle causes women to be at a higher risk of ACL tears on certain days of the month.2
A woman’s body generates estrogen to repair and thicken the uterine lining during the menstrual cycle. Elevated estrogen levels tend to make the joints more elastic than usual, which means women are at an increased risk of ACL injury in the few days before ovulation—the earliest stages of the menstrual cycle.2 Female athletes are often not knowledgeable or advised about gender-related risks for injury because, for the most part, elite sports continue to be dominated by men.
Remember to be kind to your body, particularly during your period. Eat well, stay hydrated, and get plenty of quality rest. Continue to exercise but listen to your body. If you feel you are pushing yourself too far or causing cramping and other menstrual cycle symptoms to worsen, lay off and choose some relaxing stretches or therapeutic meditation instead. Choose activities that will help your body deal with the physical and emotional stress it is experiencing!
References:
- com. (2019). 5 Tips for Playing Sports on Your Period.
- Lofthouse, A. (21 May 2019). Periods – How Do They Affect Athletes & Why Are They Monitored?
- Ng, K. (29 July 2021). From Training to Injury – How Do Female Olympic Athletes Manage Their Periods?
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