Supporting Adolescent Female Athletes: Episode 136 with Michelle Lyons

Hello & Welcome to today's episode - all about supporting the young female athlete!

After a brief break while I was away at Pelvicon..getting ready to fly out to ICS in Maastricht but in the middle, I went to a Meath Local Sports Partnership conference - all about women in sport and leadership...lots of good stuff BUT worrying stats about the drop-off girls and women from sports and physical activity as they navigate adolescence and early adulthood

So - I was inspired to record my thoughts on how we can support body literacy, including pelvic health, in the young female athlete

I wanted to explore in this episode, the topics that are fundamental in their importance in supporting young female athletes, particularly those aged 11 to 13, to help them remain active and healthy through adolescence.

Remember, that girls are not small versions of adult women or men and require a development-focused approach rather than just a performance-focused one.

Key areas of discussion included:

Menstrual health, where I advocate for age-appropriate tracking and body curiosity rather than rigid cycle-based training.

I highlight the critical role of adequate nutrition, warning against calorie counting and the demonization of carbs, and linked low energy availability to REDs and increased injury risk.

I also covered the importance of iron and bone health, the benefits of supervised strength training for physical literacy, and the need to manage training load and protect sleep.

Unsurprisingly (!) a significant portion of this episode focuses on pelvic health, including normalising conversations about bladder leakage, bowel health, and the use of the PFD Sentinel screening tool, created by Dr Silvia Giagio.

I reference the NICE guidelines to support early pelvic health education and discuss the impact of breast development on sports participation.

Finally, I always want to stress the need for body literacy over body surveillance, and encouraging an environment where young athletes feel safe to discuss health concerns with coaches and parents, and you as the clinical at the intersection of pelvic health & sports medicine

and much more...

If you'd like to take a deeper dive, my online course, The Menstrual Detective, comes with free access to 'Pelvic Health for the Younger Female Athlete', focusing on the pelvic health needs of the adolescent athlete. All of the info on all of my online courses can be found at CelebrateMuliebrity.com - but if you have a course related question, send me an email or DM on instagram - @michellelyons_muliebrity

Until next time, Onwards & Upwards! Mx #celebratemuliebrity