Injury and the female athlete: Injury risk and prevention, impact of the menstrual cycle, removing psychological fear and the consequences of playing catch up

Female Athlete Podcast

In this episode we speak to Dr Nicole Surdyka, a Physical Therapist, Performance Coach, and Soccer Trainer who specialises in the rehabilitation and risk reduction of football injuries.

Nicole started her own business after becoming disheartened when she saw research wasn't being translated into practice when working for private PT clinics across America.

We speak about the common injuries she sees every day and why there are so many ACL injuries in women's sport. We chat about best practice when it comes to injury prevention and how menstrual tracking and better understanding the menstrual cycle are crucial elements to athletes remaining uninjured and removing the psychological fear around the menstrual cycle and injury.
Nicole argues how *more research is needed!* as ever when it comes to the data around injuries in women's sport and the menstrual cycle and injury risk- and how every athlete has a different injury profile: injury history, inherent injury risk, response to hormones and therefore why an individualised approach is necessary when it comes to risk reduction and injury prevention.
We also talk about why men's sport has had a head start in terms of the research, professionalism and availability of support services such as strength and conditioning and the consequences of women's sport playing catch up.

Resources
Nicole's website: https://www.nicolesurdykaphysio.com
Nicole's course: Managing the [Un]injured Soccer Player: https://www.nicolesurdykaphysio.com/courses/
Nicole's blog:
Return to Sport: On Field Rehab: https://www.nicolesurdykaphysio.com/2020/08/23/return-to-sport-on-field-rehab/
Lesson 5: Eat Your M&Ms: https://www.nicolesurdykaphysio.com/2020/08/31/lesson-5-eat-your-mms/
Nicole on Instagram: @dr.nicolept
Nicole on Twitter: @NSurdykaPhysio
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We would like to thank our title sponsor for series 2 -Pretty Athletic. Pretty Athletic is a unique skincare brand for active women who sweat. Visit wwww.prettyathletic.com to view the amazing range of products available and use discount code FEMALEATHLETEPOD for 20% off.

This episode was kindly sponsored by Limitless Bra. The Limitless Bra was designed for growing bodies, to give girls the support, comfort and confidence to enjoy being active. The only sports bra aimed at teenagers, it offers up to 4 inches of adjustment using a patented T-system and is comfortable and discreet. Please see www.limitlessbra.com for more information.
*Disclaimer: Materials and content in the Female Athlete Podcast are intended as general information only and should not be substituted for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment