Cate Campbell on the struggle of managing her period as an athlete

Cate Campbell on the struggle of managing her period as an athlete

Campbell

Four-time Olympic swimmer Cate Campbell has opened up about the struggle of managing her period as an elite athlete, saying she wants to see more attention directed to the neglected topic.

Campbell told the ABC she would experience “patchy” periods during competitions and weight fluctuation during her menstrual cycle. In 2012, she contacted Swimming Australia for advice, and was told to talk to a gynaecologist, who prescribed her the pill.

Campbell said she put on five kilograms while on the pill, and didn’t feel like herself, “slipping into a depressed state”.

She came off the pill, and after talking to some other athletes, decided to try the progesterone-only bar which is inserted into your arm. It didn’t work for her, so decided to get it removed by her GP. 

Campbell explained that because of her low body fat percentage, the bar had been inserted against her muscle, instead of in the fat layer between the muscle and skin. Her GP didn’t know this at the time, so as she tried to dig around for it, she kept hitting Campbell’s ulnar nerve.

Ultimately, she had to get the bar removed by a surgeon, with the initial retrieval attempt causing major bruising and permanent nerve damage. She now has a sensation in her pinkie finger and palm that can turn to tingling and numbness during a heavy training load. It affects her ability to hold things and use heavy weights. 

On Instagram, she described it as a “near career-ending injury”.

Campbell explained to the ABC that throughout the entire experience, she never felt like there was an expert she could turn to for advice. The topic isn’t widely discussed in the sporting community, a problem that is reflective of the silence and stigma surrounding menstruation in wider society.

Campbell is now using a mirena IUD and said it isn’t a perfect solution, but it means she only gets her period once every two months, with light bleeding. But she does, however, experience intense cramping during her period.

Campbell’s decision to share her experince managing her period as an elite athlete is a wake-up call for the sporting world, to start talking about menstruation, how it is managed and how it impacts athletic performance.

In recent years, we have started to see some shifts, with certain female athletes speaking up about how menstruation impacts them. In 2022, we saw discussion about the all-white dress code at Wimbledon, with multiple tennis players speaking about the stress it causes them when they are menstruating. We’ve also seen different sporting codes, including AFLW, ditch white shorts all together in attempt to make players more comfortable and reduce period anxiety.

British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith caught our attention when she said she pulled up with a cramp during the 100m final at the 2022 European Championships.

“People don’t always talk about it… if it was a men’s issue we’d have a million different ways to combat things,” she said at the time.

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