The UKSI forms tech partnership to revolutionise female athlete support

The UK Sports Institute (UKSI) has announced an exciting collaboration with Intel that will accelerate the development of research technology to significantly improve understanding of the relationship between menstrual cycles and health and performance.

Building on existing UKSI technology that tracks menstrual cycles using non-invasive saliva samples, the two organisations have committed to a long-term plan that is set to support hundreds of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

The influence of the menstrual cycle on athletic performance is a topic increasingly under the spotlight. There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the prevalence of menstrual cycle irregularities and associated conditions that are detrimental to health and performance in elite athletes and exercising females.

World indoor pole vault champion and Intel ambassador Molly Caudery experiences back pain around the time of her period and has welcomed the news.

The British record holder said: “I do feel there is still stigma attached to openly discussing female health and periods and it’s great that the UKSI and Intel will be working together to help reduce that.

“When I experience symptoms during my menstrual cycle, I don’t always feel confident that I know what is going on and how to work around it to best support my body. I’m really excited to get involved with this project and learn more myself, while also hopefully contributing to research and understanding that could benefit female athletes everywhere.”

By combining the expertise of the UKSI, who work on the ground with Olympic and Paralympic sports, with the technology prowess of Intel, the partnership will aim to:

• Enable a better understanding of how the menstrual cycle influences athlete health and performance and vice versa
• Provide athletes with better informed, more individualised and impactful support.

The ambition is for a long-term partnership which brings together best-in-class from sport and technology to accelerate the progression of female athlete science and medicine.

Dr Richard Burden, Lead of Female Athlete Health and Performance at the UK Sports Institute said: “After almost a decade of dedication in this area from our team, we are thrilled to be working with Intel on this next phase of female hormone monitoring, which we believe will be pioneering for the high performance sporting community.

“Currently, we are seeing an over-reliance on assumed or predicted data from menstrual cycle tracking apps, which can be extremely misleading. We hope that by developing robust and non-invasive technology with Intel, we can provide female athletes and their support teams a more reliable way to inform their health and performance support.”

Find out more about the UKSI’s support of female athletes.