3 days ago
Many women playing camogie and Gaelic football 'suffer in silence' with pelvic floor issues
More than one third of camogie and ladies' Gaelic football players suffer urine leakage due to pelvic floor problems while playing but are 'suffering in silence' without treatment as this taboo topic is rarely discussed.
Some 455 intercounty and club ladies' footballers and camogie players, with an average age of 23.6 years, were surveyed for this groundbreaking Irish analysis.
Symptoms caused by pelvic floor dysfunction were common with 47.8% of the women regularly having an urgent need to pee and 44.3% reporting genital pain. In addition 36.8% suffer with urinary leakage.
This is the "current taboo" in players' health according to David Nolan, assistant professor of sport and exercise science at Dublin City University. He said:
It's frustrating and upsetting on one level, because most of these women are suffering in silence when there are plenty of practitioners and resources there that can help them.
'You don't need to suffer in silence, there are people there to help you.'
He stressed: 'our research is in line with what we see internationally and in other sports, so it's not just a fluke finding. It's what we see and it is the reality for sports women.'
He added: 'I was surprised by the urinary leakage prevalence", saying: "it's not a common part of our strength and conditioning programmes".
Urine leakage is more often associated with pregnancy or ageing for women.
It is not clear if these problems contribute to women giving up sport earlier than they otherwise might.
'The reasons people drop out of sport are complex," he said.
"But if every time you go to play sport you are having urine leakage or an urgent need to go to the bathroom and you think you are abnormal or strange you are not going to voice that concern."
Training and medical support needed
He suggested if younger women knew how common these symptoms are, they might be more likely to get help.
Training for coaches is needed, he urged and also encouraged players to engage with health workers.
However, he said: 'if we look at every male intercounty football or hurling team, they have a team doctor. When I was involved with intercounty women's football, we didn't have a team doctor — you don't have a team doctor for every (women's) team.
'So they are not getting the same resources as their male counterparts are getting. So it's about education and better access to resources.'
They also asked players about their menstrual symptoms and use of contraception.
• The survey — Menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptives, and pelvic floor dysfunction in ladies Gaelic football and Camogie — is published in the journal Science and Medicine in Football.
