Menstruating Footballers Are More Injury Prone

By Catherine Scullion

Women’s soccer has increased in popularity worldwide in recent years. New research by Inger Jacobson, a doctoral student at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden aimed to find trends in injuries among players of the sport and uncovered some surprising results.

Jacobson surveyed a wide variety of factors including level and frequency of play, regional variations and the effects of menstruation. She found a number of broad trends, “My research shows that the rate of injury can be associated with regional factors and the level of playing, and that the rate of injury increases in connection with menstruation. On the other hand, there is no indication that contraceptive pills increase the risk of injury,”