Correspondence
Menstrual Cramps as a Reason
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The article of Leyk et al. (1) addresses an important medical problem in professional and amateur sports. The wide-spread abuse of analgesics in sports is not demonstrated by prominent examples alone. We would like to add one more important aspect to this laudable review of the literature. In an ongoing survey of female soccer players involving more than 400 players to date (5.4% from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, 15.1% from the regional league and 79.5% from the amateur level, age over 16 years), 58% stated that they had trained at least once during the last season while taking analgesics and 67% had played while on pain medication. The main reason for taking painkillers during training was menstrual cramps, and during matches menstrual cramps was second only to pain in the musculoskeletal system. Even though women were to some extent also assessed in the studies included by Leyk et al. and no recognizable systematic difference was found in the evaluation, this aspect must be taken into account in female athletes as an important reason for analgesic use in sports, along with musculoskeletal pain. Thus, female athletes may be even more likely to take analgesics than their male counterparts. We think that further studies should investigate this aspect as a separate research topic. In addition, in competitive soccer at least, men are probably receiving better medical care, and women may be even more likely to self-medicate without medical supervision.
DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.m2023.0165
Saskia Gnutzmann, BA
Prof. Dr. med. Burkhard Weisser
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Institut für Sportwissenschaft
Kiel, Germany
bweisser@email.uni-kiel.de
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that no conflict of interest exists.
| 1. | Leyk D, Rüther T, Hartmann N, Vits E, Staudt M, Hoffmann MA: Analgesic use in sports—results of a systematic literature review. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2023; 120: 155–61 VOLLTEXT |
