ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2025
Why We Must Stop Assuming and Estimating Menstrual Cycle Phases in Laboratory and Field-Based Sport Related Research.
Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effects of hormone changes over the menstrual cycle on elite athlete performance: meta-analysis and suggested standardised protocol.Reproduction & fertility · 2026Pooled it
- Wearable-Derived Heart Rate Variability Across the Menstrual Cycle, Hormonal Contraceptive Use, and Reproductive Life Stages in Females: A Living Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Understanding Bone Metabolism Biomarker Variability Across the Menstrual Cycle: A Systematic Review.Calcified tissue international · 2026Pooled it
- Ingestion of 20 g Whey or Canola Protein Does Not Further Increase Muscle Protein Synthesis Rates During Recovery From Resistance Exercise In Healthy, Young Females.The Journal of nutrition · 2025Trial
- Methodological Considerations for Studies in Sport and Exercise Science with Women as Participants Part II: Guidance for Applied Studies in Elite Female Athletes.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Menstrual Profiles and Cardiovascular Markers Among a Cohort of Female Adolescent Athletes.International journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- The Influence of the Phases of the Menstrual Cycle on Intrinsic Injury Risk Factors in Eumenorrheic Female Athletes or Physically Active Women-A Systematic Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Physiological evaluation of the Calgary adapted aRm ergometer (CARE) concussion exertion test in adolescent athletes: A repeated-measures observational study.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Dietary nitrate supplementation does not improve resistance exercise performance in resistance-trained women.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Assessing the accuracy, reliability, and validity of menstrual cycle phase tracking equations in an applied sport setting.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Higher whole-body and exogenous postprandial glucose oxidation in the luteal versus follicular phase in healthy females.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Monitoring Menstrual Health in Footballers: Considerations for Tracking Menstrual and Hormonal Contraceptive Cycles in the Field to Support Performance.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Article
- Non-concussive impacts, cognition, and the menstrual cycle: a proof-of-concept study of elite female footballers.Experimental brain research · 2026Article
- An Overarching Conceptual Framework for Menstrual Health in Sport Research: Theory, Causality and Validation.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Menstrual Cycle and Hormonal Contraceptives in Female Athletes: Should Symptoms and Nutrition Matter More than Cycle Phase? A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Plant-protein supplementation improves thermoregulatory responses and ameliorates markers of intestinal damage during exercise in the heat.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Tracking androgens in female elite athletes: menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive effects.BMC women's health · 2026Observational
- Effects of Core Strength Training on Maximal Trunk Muscle Strength and Cycling Economy in Female Mountain Bikers.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Caffeine ingestion improves morning neuromuscular performance to evening levels in healthy females.PloS one · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The increased growth, popularity, and media interest in women's sport has led to calls for greater prioritisation of female-specific research and innovation. In response, science and medicine researchers have increased the volume of sport-related studies investigating female-specific matters, such as the menstrual cycle. Whilst the accelerated rate of published studies with female participants is welcome, the emerging trend of using assumed or estimated menstrual cycle phases to characterise ovarian hormone profiles is a significant concern. Replacing direct measurements of key characteristics of the menstrual cycle (e.g. the surge in luteinising hormone prior to ovulation via urine detection and sufficient luteal phase progesterone via blood or saliva sampling) with assumptions or estimates (i.e. no measurements) is proposed to be a pragmatic and convenient way of generating data, particularly in field-based research (i.e. elite athlete environments), where time, resources, and athlete availability are sometimes constrained. Using assumed or estimated phases, however, amounts to guessing the occurrence and timing of ovarian hormone fluctuations and risks potentially significant implications for female athlete health, training, performance, injury, etc., as well as resource deployment. The positive intentions of researchers and scientific journals in this space are not in question. The aim of this Current Opinion is to explain why using assumed or estimated menstrual cycle phases is an approach that has little scientific basis and lacks the rigour and appropriate methodological quality to produce valid and reliable data. In doing so, we provide evidence-based responses to common speculation points and offer recommendations for future research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.