New Approaches in Female Athlete Injury Prevention: Insights from IOC Guidelines

A consensus statement consolidates 56 female-specific injury‑prevention recommendations that prioritize system-level interventions—policy, environment, equipment and culture—alongside targeted training. This reframes frontline care and program design away from isolated exercise prescriptions and toward coordinated organizational and environmental measures.

The consensus synthesizes several hundred studies identifying sex-specific injury patterns and modifiable risk factors across ages and sports, providing a robust evidence base for targeted action. The working group therefore positions prevention as a program-level responsibility that must extend beyond individual exercise programs to changes in organization, environment and equipment—linking evidence to implementation.

Core exercise elements include mandatory neuromuscular warm-ups, targeted strength and balance work, and structured lower-extremity screening; pooled analyses and trials associate these measures with lower ACL and ankle injury incidence across sports and age groups. Delivery fits existing staffing models: coaches and physiotherapists can lead programs when supported by concise protocols and short training sessions. Integrate 10–15 minute neuromuscular warm-ups into routine practice and use simple balance tests (single-leg stance progressions) as baseline screens to keep these steps practical.

The consensus also issues explicit system-level recommendations—team policy, training environments, protective-equipment standards, and access to female-friendly medical support—and these injury-prevention recommendations collectively target environmental and organisational contributors to risk. Operational actions include revising practice-to-competition ratios, ensuring well-lit and safe surfaces, mandating equipment fit checks, and scheduling regular athlete-welfare reviews; paired with monitoring, these steps can produce measurable outcomes such as reduced injury incidence and improved athlete welfare.

The consensus reframes prevention as a whole-system task—policy, environment, equipment and clinical care—rather than exercise alone. Practical, feasible steps are mandatory neuromuscular warm-ups, targeted strength and balance work, and simple lower-extremity screening, all deliverable within routine practice when supported by concise protocols. Adopting a consensus-style bundle that pairs these interventions with system-level changes could meaningfully reduce injury burden in female athletes.