Women’s Sport and Health Issues
By Dr Estelle Ivanova, Valloni Attorneys at Law, Zurich, Switzerland
The summer of 2025 has been remarkable for women’s sport, with the UEFA Women’s Euro football tournament in Switzerland capturing global attention.
But alongside the excitement on the pitch, a quieter, science-led revolution is underway, one that could reshape not only how we understand elite female sports performance, but also how sport is regulated, structured, and supported to address the specific health needs of women athletes.
For decades, training regimes, injury prevention strategies, and even sports equipment have been designed with the male athlete in mind. Female athletes have been trained and assessed according to male-based standards, with little attention paid to their distinct physiological characteristics. That outdated model is now being challenged by a wave of research focused on the female body, from biomechanics to endocrinology.
A seemingly overlooked issue—breast movement—has emerged as a key factor in women’s sports performance. Research led by Professor Joanna Wakefield-Scurr reveals that inadequate breast support can reduce stride length and alter movement patterns, ultimately affecting both performance and injury risk. The sports bra is now recognised not merely as a comfort garment, but as essential performance equipment.
In 2005, Professor Wakefield-Scurr founded the Research Group in Breast Health at the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, to address this long-overlooked aspect of women’s health in sport.
Her team was the first to categorise the three-dimensional, figure-of-eight movement of the breast, recording displacements of up to 19 cm and accelerations greater than those experienced by Formula 1 drivers. Their research further demonstrated that inadequate support could reduce running stride length by up to 4 cm per step—adding up to a full mile lost over the course of a marathon—and that breast skin can stretch to more than double its original length when not properly supported.
These findings help to explain why breast movement is more than a matter of discomfort. According to a BBC Sport Report of 26 July 2025, breasts can bounce approximately 11,000 times during a single football match, experiencing forces of up to 5G—underscoring the physiological strain and the need for sport-specific support solutions.
Whilst progress has been made in understanding and addressing the physical impact of breast movement, another deeply personal and under-discussed dimension continues to affect women’s sport: the menstrual cycle. Its physiological effects and the silence surrounding it both present major challenges to performance and athletes’ welfare.
Speaking at the Women’s Sport Strategic Summit in July 2025—organised by FIFPRO and The World Players Association—Professor Kirsty Elliott-Sale, Head of the Centre of Excellence for Women in Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom, challenged the increasingly popular concept of cycle syncing. In her view, treating hormonal phases as predictive tools for performance outcomes is misleading. Contemporary expert consensus suggests that the menstrual cycle should be regarded primarily as a broad health indicator, rather than a fixed basis for structuring training or competition.
Whilst it may offer insight into individual wellbeing, there remains insufficient robust evidence to justify rigid planning based on hormonal fluctuations alone. Accordingly, a pragmatic, evidence-based approach is encouraged—one that acknowledges the relevance of hormonal variation without overstating its impact or reinforcing overly simplistic narratives.
At the same time, individual athletes continue to report the real-world effects of the menstrual cycle on performance. British Olympic runner Calli Hauger-Thackery has described the days leading up to her period as particularly difficult, often feeling as though she’s “running through mud”—a sensation that she links to fatigue and heavy legs. Like many athletes, she relies on a menstruation tracker to anticipate symptoms and manage anxiety, especially ahead of key events such as the Boston Marathon.
Former England rugby captain, Katy Daley-McLean, has also stressed the importance of preparation and openness. In partnership with researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University, her team has embraced a pragmatic approach—adjusting symptom management strategies and promoting team-wide dialogue to ensure menstruation is factored into training without being stigmatised.
These accounts illustrate how menstrual symptoms, whilst highly individualised, can shape the lived experience of athletes, reinforcing the need for supportive, flexible environments.
Another key area of research in women’s sport is injury prevention—particularly the strikingly higher incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries amongst female athletes. Depending upon the sport, the risk of ACL rupture is reported to be three to eight times higher in women than in men, often requiring long recovery periods of up to a year. Whilst targeted strength training and technique-focused programmes have shown promise, experts caution against overly simplified solutions.
What emerges from this growing body of sports science research is a clear message: women’s sport is no longer an afterthought, nor should it be modelled on male physiology. From breast biomechanics to hormonal variation and joint stability, science is finally beginning to align with the specific realities of female athletic performance.
This shift is also gaining institutional momentum. At the Women’s Sport Strategic Summit in July 2025, attention was given to how athlete health and policy can be better integrated. One example is Project ACL, a pilot initiative involving all 12 Women’s Super League football clubs in England. Led by player unions in collaboration with NIKE, the Professional Footballers’ Association and Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom, the programme aims to collect robust data and implement preventive protocols.
Whether it is improving the design of sports bras, developing more inclusive training strategies, or fostering open conversations around menstruation, progress is now being driven by scientific evidence, and a willingness to challenge outdated norms.
The rise of sex-specific data also calls for a rethink in regulations. Sports law and policy must evolve to ensure that medical standards, equipment requirements, and athlete care protocols are both equitable and scientifically grounded.
As women’s sport continues to gain visibility and value, so too must the commitment to deepening our understanding of the female body in all its complexity and its relationship with sport. This requires dedicated research, resources, and regulation to support athletic performance at every level.
Dr Estelle Ivanova may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
