Menstruation May Have Contributed to Higher Injury Rates in Female Athletes; Women Surprisingly Perform Better While Having Period [Study]

The menstruation cycle has surprising effects on women -- it makes them perform better even if they are feeling worse while having a period.

Effect of Menstruation on Female Athletes' Injury

In a new study by the University College London, researchers followed 200 athletes. They wanted to know why injury rates are higher in female athletes than their male counterparts and learned that hormones were at play.

The popularity of women's sports has coincided with a rise in injuries, sparking significant discussion about the possible causes.

There is a clear hormonal difference between individuals who use hormonal contraception and those who don't have a menstrual cycle. It's unclear what impact those hormones have when they fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle. Still, research suggests that changes in brain activity could impact an athlete's performance or increase their risk of injury.

While neuroscientists have been interested in these monthly alterations in the brain, sports scientists have rarely investigated how hormonal fluctuation affects the risk of injury and enhances or hinders professional athletes' brain function.

According to Flaminia Ronca, a sports scientist at University College London, and colleagues, changes in spatial cognition may, in theory, be a contributing risk factor for injury, particularly in fast-paced sports that require exact, millisecond accuracy in interactions with moving objects.

For instance, female athletes frequently report experiencing clumsiness around ovulation or experiencing a decline in performance during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle and their period.

However, research attempting to quantify those perceived impacts has yielded conflicting results, suggesting that endurance may decrease during menstruation while strength and power may peak around ovulation.

Sports scientists have also paid close attention to the biomechanics of the female body, which may account for the increased incidence of injuries among female athletes and significantly damaged anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs). Technique variations, training variations, and hormones may play a role.

Hormonal fluctuations could naturally loosen tendons and ligaments in joints, increasing the risk of injury during specific month periods. But other injuries than ACL tears, such as concussions and muscle strains, which also happen more frequently during specific menstrual stages, cannot be explained by lax joints.

Women Perform Better in Cognitive Tests While Having Period

A series of online cognitive tests administered two weeks apart to the athletes were designed to simulate the demands placed on their brains during games, including the need to think quickly, react swiftly, process spatial information, and maintain laser-like focus.

The study depended on menstruating females reporting their current phase on test day, and it could not examine individual differences in cognitive performance throughout menstrual cycle phases.

When it came to cognitive tasks, female athletes who were menstruating generally performed worse in the late follicular phase of their cycle right before ovulation and the later luteal phase right before bleeding.

However, despite female athletes feeling worse and having negative thoughts while having their periods, their cognitive performance peaked during their menstruation.

"What is surprising is that the participants' performance was better when they were on their period, which challenges what women, and perhaps society more generally, assume about their abilities at this particular time of the month," Ronca said.

Check out more news and information on the Menstrual Cycle in Science Times.