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The Euros are reaching their conclusion in a massive summer across women's sport.

But away from the drama and excitement on the pitch, there is also a
scientific revolution taking place.

Teams of scientists are researching the unique ways that elite sport
affects the female body � how breasts alter the way you run, but the right sports bra could give you the edge; how the menstrual cycle could impact performance and what role period trackers could play; and why is there a
higher risk of some injuries, and what can be done to avoid them?

It's a far cry from the era when professional female athletes told me they
were thought of simply as "mini-men".

Breast biomechanics

Cast your mind back to the iconic scene from the final of the last
European Championships in 2022.

It was extra time at Wembley and Lioness Chloe Kelly scored the winning
goal against Germany.

In the ensuing euphoria, she whipped off her England shirt showing the
world her sports bra.

It was fitted by Prof Joanna Wakefield-Scurr, from the University of Portsmouth, who proudly goes by the nickname the Bra Professor.

Here are her breast facts:

Breasts can bounce an average of 11,000 times in a football match
An average bounce is 8cm (3in) without appropriate support
They move with up to 5G of force (five times the force of gravity),
comparable to the experience of a Formula 1 driver
Laboratory experiments � using motion sensors on the chest � have revealed
how a shifting mass of breast tissue alters the movement of the rest of
the body, and in turn, sporting performance.

"For some women, their breasts can be really quite heavy and if that
weight moves, it can change the movement of your torso, it can even change
the amount of force that you exert on the ground," Prof Wakefield-Scurr
tells me.

Compensating for bouncing breasts by restricting the movement of your
upper body alters the positioning of the pelvis and shortens the length of
each stride. That's why sports bras are not just for comfort or fashion,
but a piece of performance gear.

"We actually saw that low breast support meant a reduction in stride
length of four centimetres," Prof Wakefield-Scurr explains.

"If you lost four centimetres every step in a marathon, it adds up to a
mile."

Sports bras also protect the delicate structures inside the breast, "if we stretch them, that's permanent," the professor says, so "it's about
prevention rather than cure".

The menstrual cycle and its effect on performance

The menstrual cycle has a clear impact on the body � it can affect
emotions, mood and sleep as well as cause fatigue, headache and cramps.

But Calli Hauger-Thackery, a distance runner who has represented Team GB
at the Olympics, says talking about its sporting impact is "still so taboo
and it shouldn't be, because we're struggling with it".

Calli says she always notices the difference in her body in the lead up to
her period.

"I'm feeling really fatigued, heavy legs, I [feel like I'm] almost running through mud sometimes, everything's more strained than it should be," she
says.

Calli finds she "lives" by her menstruation tracker, as being on her
period is a source of anxiety "especially when I've got big races coming
up".

One of those big races was in April � the Boston Marathon � and Calli's
period was due. She finished in sixth place, and recalls that she "luckily
got through" - but says she can't help wondering if she could have done
even better.

Can elite sport damage women's fertility?
Football boot issues reported by 82% of female players
The menstrual cycle is orchestrated by the rhythmic fluctuations of two hormones � oestrogen and progesterone. But how big an impact can that have
on athletic performance?

"It's very individual and there's a lot of nuance here, it's not quite as simple as saying the menstrual cycle affects performance," says Prof
Kirsty Elliott-Sale, who specialises in female endocrinology and exercise physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University.

"Competitions, personal bests, world records, everything has been set, won
and lost on every day of the menstrual cycle," she says.

This famously includes Paula Radcliffe, who broke the marathon world
record while running through period cramps in Chicago in 2002.

Working out whether the menstrual cycle affects sporting ability requires
an understanding of the physiological changes that hormones have
throughout the body, the challenge of performing while experiencing
symptoms, the psychological impact of the anxiety of competing during your period and perceptions about all of the above.

Prof Elliott-Sale says there "isn't a phase where you're stronger or
weaker", or where "you're going to win or you're going to lose", but in
theory the hormones oestrogen and progesterone could alter parts of the
body such as bone, muscle or heart.

"What we don't yet understand is: Does that have a big enough effect to
really impact performance?" she says.

The professor adds that it is "a very sensible conclusion" that poor
sleep, fatigue and cramping would have a knock-on effect on performance,
and that dread and anxiety were an "absolutely tangible thing" for
athletes on their period who are performing in front of large crowds.

She has spoken to athletes who "sometimes even triple up with period
pants" to avoid the risk of leaking and embarrassment, and "that's a heavy mental burden".

Rugby union team, Sale Sharks Women have been working with Manchester Metropolitan University.

I met Katy Daley-McLean, former England rugby captain and England all-time leading point scorer.

The team are having open discussions around periods to help them
understand the impact that menstruation can have, and how to plan for it.
This includes taking ibuprofen three days before, rather than thinking: "I can't do anything about it," Daley-McLean says.

"It's through that knowledge and that information that we can talk about
this, we can put plans in place, and we can change our behaviour to make
you a better rugby player," she says.

How to avoid injuries
One issue that has emerged as women's sport has been given more attention
is a difference in the susceptibility to some injuries.

Most of the attention has been around the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
� a part of the knee that attaches the upper and lower parts of the leg together. Injuries can be brutal and take a year to recover from.

Not only is the risk three to eight times greater in women than men,
depending on the sport, but they are becoming more common, says Dr Thomas Dos'Santos, a sports biomechanics researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University.

However, there is "no simple answer" to explain the greater risk in women,
he says.

Partly it could be down to differences in anatomy. Bigger hips in women
mean the top of the thigh bone starts from a wider position and this
changes the angle it connects to the lower leg at the knee, potentially increasing risk.

The ACL is also slightly smaller in women "so it's a little bit weaker, potentially", Dr Dos'Santos explains.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq53v066x52o

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