A UOW professor is urging women's sports organisations to do more to educate and protect female athletes from breast injuries.
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Associate Professor Deirdre McGhee is the Director of Breast Research Australia, and she's doing world-first research into breast injury and pain in high-performance athletes.
Her findings are a wake-up call for women's sports.
"We looked at the occurrence of breast injuries in Rugby League, Rugby Union, and AFL,"
"What we found was that 58 per cent of the athletes that we surveyed had had a previous breast injury, and 90 per cent of them did not report their injury to anyone."
Professor McGhee defined a breast injury as a blow to the breast that results in pain, bruising and swelling, most often caused by a ball, another athlete or contact with the ground.
Many athletes who didn't report their injuries said they thought no one could help them, and that it didn't fit into any injury classifications used by teams.
"There'll be a muscle strain, or ligament sprain, or a fracture, but it doesn't fit into any of those because it's a gland," she said.
While breast injuries are often not serious, they can affect athlete performance, Professor McGhee said.
"Women play through it, they just don't play as well.
"Over a third said it negatively affected their performance- it made them reluctant to tackle, decreased their ability to run, and decreased their ability to throw."
On top of that, women athletes in once male-dominated contact sports who had injuries were reluctant to make waves in competitions they'd fought hard to establish, she said.
"We can do what men can do, you know, so they're not really wanting to be different," Professor McGhee said.
Former Australian Rugby League player Tarsha Gale, who captained the Australian side in the 90s, said that during her time, some male punters used jokes and concern about breast injuries to belittle women athletes.
"When punters first discovered that women were actually playing tackle rugby league, they seemed to have a concern, especially the men, does it hurt in the chest area when you tackle," Gale said.
"If you look at the tackle zone in the men's game, their groin area was far more sensitive than the breast area," she said.
Despite the history, Gale said she welcomed anything that would make women athletes safer.
"Everything that is helping the female athletes certainly should be taken into consideration," she said.
"It's our game, our way, and certain tweaks certainly need to be considered."
Professor Mcghee said the way forward is all about awareness, and working with sporting organisations to ensure women athletes have the knowledge and support to look after their breast health.
"Physiotherapists can treat these injuries and make it quicker for them to get back to full performance," she said.
Professor McGhee is already working with the NRLW on guidelines and recommendations for women athletes.
In a collaboration with the Australian Institute of Sport, Professor McGhee has also created a free app to guide athletes and active women on how to choose the right bra for their sport.
"We need to educate female athletes on proper breast support and bra fit," she said.
"It's really basic fundamental knowledge that, tragically, should be in high school, and we don't teach it," she said.
Professor McGhee said that this information is vital to support women athletes in reaching their peak performance.
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