Technology can help elite sportswomen break more barriers
also allow us to better understand the menstrual cycle and how to work with it to improve health and performance,” added Ross, who also works for The Well HQ, an online platform promoting women’s health.
“No female athlete should be held back by her menstrual cycle, so realtime hormone data profiles can help us offer targeted interventions and training, and better understand why an athlete might have severe symptoms or hormone imbalances.”
Saliva samples are analysed in a laboratory. However, the end goal is to create a small, portable reader that can process hormone data in real-time, offering a more accurate picture of an athlete’s menstrual health.
“The next step is trying to shrink a lab into a reader the size of a mobile phone. We are 12 months from that,” said Dr Ross, who added that the technology is also being trialled with women going through IVF who require regular hormone tests.
According to The Well HQ, just 6% of sport science and medical research is conducted exclusively on women. The conference will also reveal how lecturers at the University of the West of Scotland are bucking this trend.
Dr Laura Forrest’s research has focused on understanding the relationship between health, menstrual cycle and performance for female athletes, while Dr Eilidh Macrae studies how pregnant and postpartum women access and engage in exercise. Dr
Macrae said: “Many exercise barriers during pregnancy and post-partum can be helped with the right advice or the right support, so that’s where we’re trying to connect the dots and ensure the right advice from trusted sources is put in place.”