Experts in sports and exercise medicine will explore topics unique to female athletes at an international conference taking place at RCSI on St Stephen's Green today, which will continue until Saturday.

The conference's thematic sessions will explore the impact of the menstrual cycle and performance in female athletes; optimal nutrition for female athletes; risk factors predisposing females to anterior cruciate ligament injuries; bone health in female athletes; and exercise recommendations in pregnancy among other topics. 

Themed on 'The Female Athlete', the 13th Annual Scientific Conference of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine, which was opened last night by Emma Byrne, goalkeeper for Republic of Ireland and Arsenal Ladies' soccer teams, is co-hosted by Athletic Rehabilitation and Therapy Ireland and the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists.

Among the highlights of the conference is a panel & delegate debate which will take place on Saturday and will investigate ‘Ethical issues in Sports Medicine'. The session is chaired by Dr Rod McLoughlin, chief medical officer of Team Ireland at Rio 2016 Olympics and Head of Medical Services at the IRFU, with panel contributors Ms Sarah O'Connor, Head of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship at Wilson Hartnell PR; Professor Niall Moyna (DCU School of Health and Human Performance); Dr Una May, Director of Participation and Ethics in Sport Ireland; and Professor David Gerrard.

The conference was opened yesterday night with the first of two conference keynote lectures. Professor David Gerrard, Emeritus Professor at the University of Otago Medical School, New Zealand, delivered his perspective on anti-doping in sport with the first keynote talk called ‘The History of Anti-Doping'. Prof Gerrard chairs the World Anti-Doping Agency Committee for Therapeutic Use Exemption, is Vice-Chair of the Sports Medicine Committee for International Swimming, is a member of the Anti-Doping Advisory Committee for World Rugby and was a 1964 Olympian and a 1966 Commonwealth Games swimming gold medallist. 

Female athlete triad was the focus of the second keynote talk at the conference. This was delivered by Professor Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen, Professor in Physical Activity and Sport at the Department of Sports Medicine, the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway. In this lecture she detailed this serious illness which is a syndrome in which a triad of disorders are present: an eating disorder, amenorrhoea and decreased bone density. This condition is more common seen in female athletes and can lead to lifelong health consequences and can potentially be fatal. 

Speaking on the three-day conference, Dr Nick Mahony, Board Member of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine (RCPI & RCSI) and conference co-ordinator, said, "Our conference theme this year, ‘The Female Athlete' is a fitting theme in an Olympic and Paralympic year and with Ireland's impressive track record of success with female Olympians such as Sonia O'Sullivan, Katie Taylor and more recently, gold medallist, Annalise Murphy and our rowers Dr Sinead Lynch and Claire Lamb all of whom have raised the profile of the female athlete. With the increase of women partaking in recreational exercise and in sport this theme is all the more timely. We look forward to get an Irish and global perspective on sports medicine issues relevant to female athletes."

The conference is being chaired by Dr Helen French, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, RCSI and ISCP; Dr Suzi Clarke, of the Faculty of Sports & Exercise Medicine, Dr Siobhan O'Connor, of Athletic Rehabilitation and Therapy Ireland.