Sport plays a major role in maintaining and improving physical function and health of women from adolescence to sexual maturity, through to menopause and old age, and it also plays a key role in social productivity and medicine from the perspective of preventive medicine. However, in routine clinical practice, there are many gynecological problems that affect the condition and performance of female athletes due to a lack of appropriate medical intervention, such as neglect of amenorrhea and menstruation-related symptoms. In addition, the number of athletes aiming to return to competition post-partum has been increasing in recent years, but there is little medical data on the well-being of female athletes during pregnancy and the post-partum period. I previously conducted clinical research on three separate topics, with the aim of clarifying the current issues unique to female athletes, mainly in terms of conditioning and injury prevention. The goal was that clinical research was to examine the situation of athletes with and without disabilities and provide feedback from the survey results to athletes and coaches. This paper divides the clinical studies conducted to date into three topics that will be explored herein: (i) research on the female athlete triad (Triad); (ii) research on oral contraceptives/low-dose estrogen-progestin; and (iii) research on pregnancy and post-partum period.
Keywords: female athlete triad; low energy availability; oral contraceptive/low-dose estrogen-progestin; pregnant and post-partum athlete; relaxin-2.
© 2020 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.