Radio 4 at half 9 today - Inside Health: Sport and the female body

[nauticant]

As an era-defining summer of women’s sport kicks off, Inside Health looks at the science of sport and the female body.

What do we know about how female physiology affects sporting performance?
James visits Manchester to meet elite athletes and the scientists who are at the forefront of investigating the impact of periods on athletic performance and why women are more prone to certain injuries than men. He also hears about breast movement and why the right sports bra really matters.
...
This episode is produced in partnership with The Open University. Curious to know more? Try The Open University’s ‘Menstruation Myths’ quiz by following the links to The Open University.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fvhn

I will be listening to this while avoiding the previous programme about Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. I don’t have the patience or capacity for that

Should be interesting.

It was very much a queer interpretation of Orlando. It included the bold claim that the book was written with Woolf having knowledge of the earliest sex-change expermentation. Utter rubbish.

I had an inkling it would be like that which is why I decided to avoid. It’s too early in the morning to be kicking Alexa. I’m interested in this place in Manchester that studies women’s physiology in sports

They’ve been doing a research project on trans athletes at Manchester Met Uni.

https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/application-summaries/research-summaries/effect-of-gender-affirming-hormone-treatment-on-athletic-performance/

Did they say that ballerinas don't experience the same problems?

@SabrinaThwaite hmmm. It is meant to be a centre to study Excellence for WOMEN in sport

I think they said that ballerinas get better infrastructure and support but I’m not sure, I was making tea at the same time

That was really informative. But by the end I found myself baffled by why experts (not on the programme, the programme played it straight) would deny differences between the sexes in elite sports. Have they no shame or at least an urge to protect their academic integrity?

That last question baffles me, because the academics couldn't have been clearer. The T question was ignored, which is fair enough, but it was repeatedly stated that female athletes face challenges which male athletes are spared. And yes, the ACL expert said that there is minimal difference in the incidence of ACL injury between teenage boys and girls training in ballet at elite level, which he puts down to the fact that both sexes get intensive training and support aimed at keeping them in top condition and preventing injury. Girls and women training in sport have not had anything like that, historically.

One question which wasn't asked, let alone answered, but which was certainly in my mind, is why female athletes don't just use hormonal contraception to stop having periods altogether while they are training and competing at elite level. Obviously not every woman could do that for medical reasons, and not every woman would want to do it, but it seems the simplest way to me. My menstruation years are long behind me now <punches the air> but they were grim at times. I take my hat off to women like Paula Radcliffe who can break world records while having a period (apparently), but I could scarcely get out of the house on day one some months (endometriosis). The blissful few years in my late teens and 20s when I was on the pill made life so much easier.

TBF it is the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, I guess the Centre of Excellence for Women in Sport is a part of it.

Although I note TW Blair Hamilton is on the staff, so I wonder if it’s his pet project.

A slight diversion but another Radio 4 programme this morning. Where the Today Programme talked about Mums and Pregnant Woman breastfeeding! No chest feeding.

Maybe there is hope. Womans Hour take note.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002fvk6?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile about 2hr 45 min.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I also wondered why the option of preventing periods wasn’t investigated.
@NotInMyyName I heard that item on the Today programme and was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was “women” and “mothers” being mentioned

And yes, the ACL expert said that there is minimal difference in the incidence of ACL injury between teenage boys and girls training in ballet at elite level, which he puts down to the fact that both sexes get intensive training and support aimed at keeping them in top condition and preventing injury. Girls and women training in sport have not had anything like that, historically.

I do hope this turns out to be the most important factor, because it's the most easily fixable! And fixing it by enabling girls to play more and train harder would fit in with the development of the sport from grassroots upwards. At the moment, even players who have been on elite pathways since they were 8 or 9 have not played nearly as much football or trained like boys by the time they start playing for senior teams - which is often at a younger age than male footballers, to compound the problem. Because it's not just knee ligament injuries, IMO, it's soft-tissue injuries generally which are more common.

I can't say I agree with the idea of stopping periods altogether except in extreme cases - like crippling endometriosis, or extremely painful periods. I never like the idea of interfering with natural processes.
Thanks for alerting me to the programme, @nauticant - I will listen with great interest.

ETA: To expand on what I said about natural processes - periods, hormone fluctuations, pregnancy and menopause are part of being female as much as our plumper, smaller bodies. Stopping periods as standard could send a message to grassroots players, ordinary women, that you have to deny a part of your femaleness to excel at sport.

Will listen later - sounds interesting

some forms of contraception stop ovulation which stops the release of testosterone. An increasing area of research is how to adapt training around the menstrual cycle to avoid lost days; ovulation and the subsequent rise in oestrogen can benefit some women from a training pov

there was a bbc clip a week or so ago on Facebook of the women’s cycling team describing how using the above techniques reduced lost days through injury from 400 days per year (shared across the team) to one.

This is a good point - you can use your natural cycle to boost your training. This adjustment of loading in training is standard practice in elite women's football nowadays.
And a woman who is returning from having a baby can find that she is stronger and tougher than before.

Anyway, I will finally listen to the programme now!

Ah it’s on Instagram- search “we’re more susceptible to injuries at certain times of the month” bbc 5 live

stacy sims work is very much focussed on all this, training for teens, women and then women in peri and menopause. I’m in the latter and on tamoxifen; I’ve found her advice really helpful.

Thanks, @WarriorN and @BellaAmorosa, that makes more sense of what some of the sports scientists were saying in the programme. I am so fixated on the horror of menstruation as I experienced it that I've not really thought about the positive benefits of the other phases of the menstrual cycle.

On a related note, I was very interested in the detailed analysis of the cycle in this programme: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bvg9nm

Semi related (possibly), I watched both of the Wimbledon singles finals this weekend and was really struck by how no female player has been able to string together any kind of winning run since the Williams sisters were at their best (though before that it was relatively common, eg Steffi Graf and before that of course Martina won it year after year back in the day) - the last 11 finals have been won by 10 different players. even the list of runners up has plenty of one time inclusions. I was also a little disheartened to see a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash in the final (which was again contested by two first-time finalists)

Whereas men's tennis has been dominated by 'usual suspects' for the last 20-odd years... Alcaraz almost made it his third win in three years (beaten this year by a confirmed steroids cheat) and before that Djokovic had been unbeatable for a good few years...

What's the difference?

While we're on the subject, did anyone hear last week's episode? The last ten minutes or so? I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any thoughts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002fj9s

For anyone interested in tracking and adapting exercising to menstrual cycles, fitr woman is great and the basic app is free

https://www.fitrwoman.com/

even for post meno or irregular periods.

contains recipes and nutritional advice too . I’ve made a few of the recipes and would like to try more when I’ve the time.

I think I heard about it on woman’s hour a few years ago when they were discussing this area of women’s health

I’m no althlete but try to meet somewhere towards the recommended amounts of exercise. The advice on things like ligaments and how hard to push was helpful. Especially as I’m very hypermobile and joints can be temperamental!

Interesting! Linen condoms, who knew. Which aspect were you wondering about?