Why do we need to talk about periods, breasts and injuries

Euros are reaching their conclusion in women’s game in heavy summer.

But away from the drama and enthusiasm on the pitch, a scientific revolution is also happening.

Teams of scientists are researching unique methods that elite games affect the female body – how the breasts change the way you run, but the right sports bra can give you an edge; How to affect menstrual cycle performance and what role period trackers can play; And why some injuries are at greater risk, and what can be done to avoid them?

It is far from the era when professional female athletes told me that they were just thought of as “mini-men”.

Put your mind back into the prestigious scene from the final of the final European Championship in 2022.

It was an extra time in Vambali and Sheras Chloe Kelly scored a win against Germany.

In the upcoming enthusiasm, she killed her England shirt, showing her sports bra to the world.

It was fitted by Professor Joanna Wakefield-Sazor from Partsmouth University, proudly goes by a bra professor surname.

Here is his breast facts:

• Breasts can bounce on average 11,000 times in a football match
• An average boom without proper support is 8 cm (3in)
• They walk with comparable, 5G force force (five times of force of gravity) of the experience of a formula 1 driver.

Laboratory experiment – using speed sensors on the chest – has revealed how a shifting mass of breast tissue changes the movement of the rest of the body, and in turn, sports performance.

“For some women, their breasts can really be quite heavy and if he moves weight, it can change the movement of your torso, it can also change the amount of force that you have engraved on the ground,” the pro Wakefield-scarr told me.

Compensation to bounce the breasts by restricting the movement of your upper body changes the pelvic position and shorten the length of each stride. This is why sports bra is not only for comfort or fashion, but a piece of performance gear.

“We really saw that low breast support means a decrease in a strong length of four centimeters,” the pro Vackfield-Socur.

“If you lose four centimeters at every step in the marathon, it adds up to a mile.”

Sports bras also protect delicate structures inside the breast, “If we stretch them, it is permanent,” the professor says, “it is about prevention rather than treatment”.

The menstrual cycle has a clear effect on the body – it can affect emotions, mood and sleep as well as cause fatigue, headache and cramps.

But Callie Hazar-Thakeri, a remote runner, who has represented the team GB in the Olympics, says that talking about its sports effect “is still so forbidden and it should not be, because we are struggling with it”.

Callie says that she always takes the difference in her body to her period.

“I’m really feeling tired, heavy legs, I [feel like I’m] Almost sometimes running through the mud, everything is more stressful, “she says.

Callie finds “life” by her menstrual tracker, as being in her period is a source of concern “especially when I got a big run”.

One of those big races was in April – Boston Marathon – and Callie was about to be a period. She finished sixth, and recalls that she got through “fortunately” – but says that she could not help what she could do even better.

The menstrual cycle is orchestrated with two hormones – estrogen and rhythmic ups and downs of progesterone. But how big can have a great impact on athletic performance?

Manchester Metropolitan University specializes in women endocrinology and exercise physiology, “it is very personal and there are very nuances here, it is not very simple.

She says, “competitions, individual best, world records, everything is set, won and lost every day of the menstrual cycle,” she says.

This includes famous Paula Radcliffe, who broke the marathon world record The duration is running through cramps In 2002 in Chicago.

Working whether the menstrual cycle affects the ability of the game, which requires an understanding of physical changes that are hormones throughout the body, the challenge of performing the symptoms when experiencing the symptoms, the psychological effects of the concern of competition during your period and perceptions about all the above.

Professor Elliot-SAL states that “there is not a stage where you are strong or weak”, or where “you are going to win or you’re going to lose”, but in theory, hormone estrogen and progesterone can change parts of the body such as bone, muscle or heart.

“What we have not yet understood is: Is there really a big impact to influence performance?” She says.

Professor says that this is “a very intelligent conclusion” that will affect a knock on the performance of poor sleep, fatigue and cramps, and that there was a “absolutely tangible thing” for the dreaded and anxiety athletes, which are performing in front of a large crowd.

He has talked to athletes who also “triple with period pants” to avoid the risk of leak and embarrassment, and “it is a heavy mental burden”.

Rugby Union Team, SAIL Shark Women are working with Manchester Metropolitan University.

I met Katy Daily-Makleen, former England rugbie captain and all time leading points from England.

The team is having an open discussion around the time, which can help understand the effects of menstruation, and how to plan for it. This involves taking ibuprofen three days ago instead of thinking this: “I can’t do anything about it,” says Daily-Macline.

“This is through the knowledge and the information we can talk about, we can place plans in place, and we can change your behavior to make you a better rugby player,” she says.

An issue that has emerged as women’s game, has been given more attention, there is a difference in sensitivity to some injuries.

Most attention has been around the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) – a part of the knee that combines the upper and lower parts of the foot together. Injuries can be cruel and it may take a year to overcome it.

Dr. Biomacionics Researcher, a sports biomechanics researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University. Thomas Doscentos says that not only women have three to eight times more risk than men based on sports, but they are becoming more normal.

However, there is a “no simple answer” to explain the greater risk in women, they say.

Partly it can be down to the difference in anatomy. Large hips in women mean the thigh bone top begins with a broad position and it replaces the angle that connects it to the lower leg at the knee, potentially increasing risk.

ACL is also slightly smaller in women “so it is a little weak, potentially”, Dr. Dosentos explains.

ACL injuries can occur in all stages of the menstrual cycle, but hormonal changes are also being investigated, FIFAGoverning body for world football.

High levels of estrogen before ovulation can change the properties of ligaments, causing them a little more stretch, so “the risk of injury may increase, theoretically,” they say.

But Dr. Doscentos argues that it is important to think beyond pure anatomy because women still do not get the same quality of support and power training as men.

He compares it with ballet, where the dancers get good quality training. , [difference in] Dos dosantos says, “The incident rate between men and women is basically trivial.

There is research on whether it is possible to reduce the risk of ACL’s injuries, by training to transfer women athletes in a subtle ways.

But there is a risk of reducing performance, and some techniques that stress on ACL – such as leaving the shoulder to cheat a defender before bursting in another direction – are the necessary tricks in sports such as football.

“We can’t wrap them in cotton wool and say you should avoid playing the game,” Dr. Says dosentos. “What we need to do is that they are strong enough to bear those loads, but it is not as simple as some people are saying that we can erase 100% ACL injuries, we cannot.”

Even though there are still many unanswered questions, it is still a world of differences for the sales shark women for Katy Daily-Macaline.

When she found her first cap in 2007, she recalls that all the perceptions about her body performance were based on the data of male rugby players.

“We were truly considered as mini-men,” recall the daily-macline.

And now, she says, girls and women do not feel like outsiders in sports, which is not only improving performance at the elite level, but also helping to keep more women in sports.

“It’s great, it’s something to be celebrated because if you look at the data, one of the biggest reasons has left the young girls out of the game, it is the image of the body, it is around the period and is not a right sports bra that is so easily resolved.”

Inside Health was produced by Gerry Holt