A.V. BORISOVA¹, F.V. TAKHAVIEVA¹, D.V. ASMANOVA¹, V.I. AIDAROV^1, 2, D.V. KAMKALINA³

 ¹Kazan State Medical University, Kazan

² Republic Clinical Hospital, Kazan

³“Dynamo” Football Academy, Moscow

  Contact details:

Borisova A.V. — Associate Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine

Address: 49 Butlerov St., Kazan, Russian Federation, 420012, tel.: +7-917-905-30-65, e-mail: doc-borisova@bk.ru

 As is known, sport is accompanied by a critical level of physical load, which leads to a steady increase in injuries among athletes. However, sex differences in the risk of tendon and ligament injuries have been reported, with the relative risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture being 2 to 6 times higher in young female athletes compared to male athletes. This indicates that sex differences in the biomechanical properties of tendons are significant during the period of life when the sex hormonal profile is noticeably different in women and men.

The purpose — to determine the influence of menstrual cycle phases on the frequency and nature of injuries in professional female football players.

Material and methods. 31 athletes of the top division women’s youth team were examined, average age 19.6 ± 1.8. The menstrual cycle was divided into 3 phases: follicular phase (phase 1), ovulation (phase 2), luteal phase (phase 3). Injuries during the annual macrocycle were analyzed. All injuries were classified into muscle ones, injuries of the capsular-ligamentous apparatus, and bone injuries. Injury rates and ratios were calculated for the total number for each injury type. Statistical processing of the data was carried out using the statistical software package SPSS (v.18.0). The χ2 test and Fisher’s exact test were used to analyze the data. Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Results. Analysis was carried out for 267 cycles and 39 injuries in 31 players during one playing season. 43.6% of the total injuries occurred in the luteal phase, 46.2% in the follicular phase, and 2.6% in the ovulation phase. In the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, muscle injuries were more often recorded in female athletes — 75.0% of cases, while damage to the capsular-ligamentous apparatus in this phase was detected only in 33.3% (p = 0.003), and bone injuries were recorded in 50.0% (p = 0.037). Thus, muscle injuries in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle were statistically significantly more common. The incidence rates of capsular-ligamentous injuries (33.3%) and bone injuries (50.0%) were not statistically significantly different (p = 0.147).

Conclusion. The most common injuries among young female football players were injuries to the capsular-ligamentous apparatus (48.7%), followed by muscle injuries (30.8%), while injuries to the capsular-ligamentous apparatus were most characteristic of the luteal phase, and muscle injuries predominated in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.

Key words: menstrual cycle, injuries, professional female football players.

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