IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i19p11932-d920770.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Offered Support and Knowledge about the Menstrual Cycle in the Athletic Community: A Cross-Sectional Study of 1086 Female Athletes

Author

Listed:
  • Philip von Rosen

    (Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy, Karolinska Institutet, Alfred Nobels Allé 23, 141 52 Huddinge, Sweden)

  • Linda Ekenros

    (Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy, Karolinska Institutet, Alfred Nobels Allé 23, 141 52 Huddinge, Sweden)

  • Guro Strøm Solli

    (School of Sport Sciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsoe, Norway
    Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, Nord University, 8026 Bodø, Norway)

  • Øyvind Sandbakk

    (School of Sport Sciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, 9019 Tromsoe, Norway
    Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Centre for Elite Sports Research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7034 Trondheim, Norway)

  • Hans-Christer Holmberg

    (Department of Health Sciences, Lulea University of Technology, 971 87 Lulea, Sweden
    Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Biomedicum C5, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Angelica Lindén Hirschberg

    (Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
    Department of Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Cecilia Fridén

    (Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy, Karolinska Institutet, Alfred Nobels Allé 23, 141 52 Huddinge, Sweden
    Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden)

Abstract

Many female athletes perceive that symptoms related to the menstrual cycle such as dysmenorrhea, premenstrual symptoms, amenorrhea or side-effects of hormonal contraceptives negatively impact their training, performance, and general well-being. Knowledge and communication about female athletes’ health is therefore important in the sport community. The aims of this study were to explore the level of knowledge and communication about menstrual cycle issues and use of hormonal contraceptives in the athletic community and to describe the kinds of medical support offered to female athletes. A total of 1086 Swedish and Norwegian athletes from 57 different sports responded to a web-based questionnaire. Of these, 58% ( n = 627) practiced team sports and 42% ( n = 459) individual sports. Twenty-six percent ( n = 278) of the athletes perceived their knowledge about female athlete health to be poor/very poor and the knowledge was most often acquired from medical staff. Fifty-three percent ( n = 572) of the athletes perceived the knowledge acquired of their coaches as poor/very poor, even though a significantly ( p < 0.001) higher proportion of athletes with a female coach (30%, n = 31) rated their coach’s knowledge as very good/good, compared to athletes with a male coach (5%, n = 31). Only 11% ( n = 116) of the athletes discussed female health issues with their coach. The majority (81%, n = 842) of the athletes partly to strongly agreed that female athlete health is considered a taboo topic in the athletic community. Forty-seven percent ( n = 510) of the athletes had access to a physiotherapist, while only three percent ( n = 29) had access to a gynecologist. Low perceived knowledge, lack of communication and support demonstrate the need for a multi-professional medical team and enhanced educational efforts focused on female athlete health in the athletic community.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip von Rosen & Linda Ekenros & Guro Strøm Solli & Øyvind Sandbakk & Hans-Christer Holmberg & Angelica Lindén Hirschberg & Cecilia Fridén, 2022. "Offered Support and Knowledge about the Menstrual Cycle in the Athletic Community: A Cross-Sectional Study of 1086 Female Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-10, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:11932-:d:920770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/11932/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/11932/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martina Höök & Max Bergström & Stig Arve Sæther & Kerry McGawley, 2021. "“Do Elite Sport First, Get Your Period Back Later.” Are Barriers to Communication Hindering Female Athletes?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Mikaeli A. Carmichael & Rebecca L. Thomson & Lisa J. Moran & Joel R. Dunstan & Maximillian J. Nelson & Michael L. Mathai & Thomas P. Wycherley, 2021. "A Pilot Study on the Impact of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Elite Australian Football Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-11, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marina Schulz & Kari Bø & Marte Charlotte Dobbertin Gram, 2024. "Knowledge and Communication About the Menstrual Cycle Among Rhythmic Gymnasts, Ballerinas, and Dancers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dimakatso Althea Ramagole & Dina Christa Janse van Rensburg & Charlotte Cowie & Ritan Mehta & Gopika Ramkilawon & Babette M. Pluim & Gino Kerkhoffs & Vincent Gouttebarge, 2025. "Gynaecological Health Patterns and Motherhood Experiences of Female Professional Football Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(2), pages 1-12, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:11932-:d:920770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.