Let’s Talk Female Sport

When we talk about sport, training and performance, there is still a tendency to talk about “the athlete” as though male and female bodies are essentially the same.

Same training. Same recovery. Same approach.

But women are not simply smaller male athletes.

For a long time, much of sports research and performance thinking centred around men. Women's sport has moved forward enormously — and the conversation around the women actually playing it needs to keep moving too.

Whether you run, play rugby, golf, lift weights, compete, dance or simply love your sport, being female is part of the picture.

Yes, periods belong in conversations about sport

Some women notice very little change across their menstrual cycle. Others absolutely do.

Energy. Sleep. Recovery. Headaches. Cramping. Even how training feels on a particular day can change.

That does not mean we should blame every bad training session on hormones or completely redesign training around a menstrual cycle.

But if you regularly think:

“Why does this feel so much harder this week?”

…it may be worth paying attention.

Tracking your cycle alongside training, recovery and how your body feels can sometimes reveal patterns you had simply put down to having an off day.

The female body is not an inconvenience to work around.

It is part of understanding the athlete.

Your muscles are only part of the story

Run. Lift. Jump. Swing. Sprint. Change direction.

Whatever your sport, movement requires much more than strong muscles.

Your brain, nervous system, joints and muscles are constantly working together to coordinate movement.

And right through the middle of that system?

Your spine.

That is one reason sports chiropractic is about far more than treating someone with a sore back.

We look at the spine, pelvis and joints throughout the body and how they are moving and functioning together.

Because the part complaining is not always the whole story.

A knee problem may have us looking at the hip, ankle or foot.

A shoulder problem may have us interested in the neck and thoracic spine.

A hamstring that always tightens?

We want to know why.

Training hard but feel like you've hit a ceiling?

This is something we find particularly interesting.

You are training consistently.
You are getting stronger.
Your fitness has improved.

But somehow you feel as though you have stopped progressing.

The temptation?

Train harder.

But sometimes it is worth asking:

Is my body moving well enough to make the most of the training I am already doing?

Are joints moving freely? Is one area compensating for another? Is the same muscle repeatedly having to work harder?

This does not mean every performance plateau is a chiropractic problem — far from it.

But sometimes continually asking the muscles to do more misses another part of the picture.

We are interested in the system those muscles are working within.

“But isn't that what physio and sports massage are for?”

They are important parts of sports healthcare.

So are strength and conditioning, coaching and rehabilitation.

Chiropractic brings another perspective, with particular attention to the spine, joints, movement and neuromusculoskeletal function.

You can see that multidisciplinary approach in elite sport. NFL teams, for example, use chiropractors alongside their wider medical and performance teams.

Not instead of everyone else.

Alongside them.

Different professions. Different expertise. Same athlete.

We want to talk more about women in sport

This is the bit that matters to us.

Too often, conversations about sports performance begin with what we know about male athletes, with women considered afterwards.

We would like to turn that around occasionally.

Let's talk about her.

Her training.
Her movement.
Her strength.
Her spine.
Her recovery.
Her menstrual cycle.
Her goals.

And let's make it completely normal for women to talk about all of those things with the healthcare professionals looking after them.

At MERN, we are female chiropractors with a particular interest in working with women throughout different stages of life — including women who love their sport.

Not because female athletes are fragile.

Not because they need to be wrapped in cotton wool.

Because female athletes deserve to be understood as female athletes in their own right.

Women's sport has moved forward.

The way we look after the women playing it should move forward too.