WFATT2019

Title:

Lecture 3-C

Support for Female Athlete -What You Need to Know-

 

Abstract:

Support for female athletes has been a key issue as expectations for their success heightens recently.  The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology delegated the “Development and Support Project for Female Athletes” in 2013, and the Japan Institute of Sports Science (JISS) has cooperated by implementing medical researches and practices to resolve female-specific health problems for the past five years.

The gynecological problems related to female athletes are generally divided into two types depending on whether the athlete has a menstrual period.  If she has a regular menstrual period, her symptoms include such as menstrual pain, premenstrual syndrome, and menstrual cycle changes in subjective conditions.  Athletes with amenorrhea have different problems that are commonly associated with the absence of their first period or their regular period unexpectedly.

The individual differences for each athlete as well as athletic and event characteristics must be taken into consideration when treating each case.  Insufficient calorie and nutrition intake for intense training can lead amenorrhea. Low estrogen level can cause low bone density, which can easily result in stress fractures from exercise.  Thus, proper guidance including nutrition education at a younger age is required for female athletes.

This lecture will provide the gynecological concepts that exercise instructors should consider when training female athletes.

 

 

Background:

Miho Takao is an obstetrics and gynecologist, Japan Sports Association Official Sports Doctor, and Japan Para-Sports Association Official Para-Sports Doctor.

She completed graduate school at Jikei University School of Medicine. After working at the University Hospital, she has supported many women's health as vice president of Women’s Health Clinic Ihc Omotesando since 2012. She is active not only as a member of the Sports Agency commissioned project, National Sports Science Center “fostering and support project for female athletes,” but also as a consulting physician of various enterprises and major fitness clubs. She also has medical and mental support for female athletes. Furthermore, she holds a lot of workshops of ‘athlete yoga’ and ‘maternal (perinatal) yoga’ as a yoga instructor. Takao energetically works "for women to become better age" through three fields of medical, yoga, and sports.