New research has found that the gender research gaps are playing out in exercise science, where research is done on men, by men, risking the injury, misdiagnosis and mistreatment of women.
Women have different hormones, different body fat distribution, a different (average) size and different risk factors for various diseases to men. They also have periods, pregnancies and menopause.
This year the journal Sports Medicine published an article arguing that there were enough differences between men and women who run ultramarathons, including fatigue and injury susceptibility, that sex-specific guidelines could be useful – although further research is required.
Research from the University of Melbourne found sport psychology research studies, which can influence coaching methods, injury management and performance psychology, are predominantly based on men.
An editorial in the British Medical Journal in June highlighted a range of studies showing the gender gap in sports research and the need to acknowledge and address it.
Another study, this one from April, found that when women led studies they were more likely to have equal numbers of men and women as participants.
And a study published in the journal Sports Medicine last week audited official exercise guidelines and found that they were overwhelmingly based on studies written by men, about men.
Mandy Hagstrom, the study’s author and senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, wrote in the Conversation that governing bodies in the Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom put out “consensus statements” on training which ultimately informs personal trainers and coaches.
“Research has not served sex and gender diverse people”
“The findings in these statements trickle down into what you and I see happen in the gym every week,” she wrote. Hagstrom also points out that research has not served sex and gender diverse people well, either, and notes that neither sex nor gender are binary.
Her audit found more than nine in 10 first (or lead) authors were men, while women made up just 13% of authors. Less than third of study participants were women. That means we do not know if women should be doing things differently, she writes.
“Research suggests differences in skeletal muscle structure, the way muscle fibres work, and in the time taken to recover following intense exercise … work from our team has also shown men gain more absolute muscle size and strength following participation in resistance training but that relative gains tend to be similar or greater in women.”
“And recent research has shown strength differences appear to still be present, even when muscle size is matched between sexes.”
Women are put in risk
Nimphius, Edith Cowan University’s pro vice-chancellor (sport) and human performance professor, has worked with some of Australia’s top sporting bodies. She says the disparity between the research done on men versus women permeates all areas of medicine and science and can have real consequences.
As an extreme example, she points to higher rates of injury and death for women in car crashes because crash test dummies are based on the average male.
“The lack of data on women and then the implementation of findings have caused real distress, injury and [the] potential death of women because the decisions and designs we’ve made were exclusively based on the data of men and that put women at risk,” she says.
Source: Guardian