Is sponsorship detrimental to athletes health?

I’ll begin with a quote from a podcast I’ve just finished listening to: “Lets get a brand to put money behind the health of the athletes instead of behind the medals”. – that was a comment on a blog about RED-S by Trent Stellingwerff – (it was the Science of Sport podcast, if you’re interested). I don’t disagree with this sentiment, in fact I wholeheartedly encourage it, but I do see a couple of problems with it. In the world of elite sport, it would seem that one thing matters to sponsors. Medals. Medals bring fame, occasionally notoriety, but above … Continue reading

RED-S – what?!

This is something pertinent, as in the past year I have gone from not having heard of RED-S, to suggesting that patients really start thinking about it as a cause for stress fractures, and enabling them to swerve a downward spiral into long term injury and depression. Where has this come from? You may have heard of the Female Athlete Triad. Effectively it is a combination of Low energy availability, Menstrual disruption and Poor bone health. It was originally seen as a rigid structure – a diagnosis, which was not particularly useful when you have someone turning up with a … Continue reading