Papers

Sport Participation as an Antidote to Reproductive Function of Female Athletes

Abstract

The observed high incidence of oligomenorrhea and amenorrhea among female athletes has raised great fears about the effects of strenuous sport participation upon the reproductive potentials of female athletes.This study is designed to investigate the reproductive life ofNigerian female veteran athletes. A self-developed questionnaire, which covered all aspects of reproduction-from menstrual history through pregnancy to labour experience- is used for data collection. A total of 400 veteran female athletes are surveyed from eight states in east and five in west.The result shows that most of the athletes experience late menarbea (15.31 yrs.). the incidence of pre-marital pregnancy is higher among eastern athletes but abortion rate is found to be lower (18.8%) among these athletes than those from the west (59%).Most of the respondents get married at relatively young age (23.5 yrs. and 26.2 yrs. for east and west respondent, respectively). A total of 285 respondents get pregnant within the first two years of marriage, while 111 becomes pregnant within 3-5 years of marriage. All the respondents have at least a child (as at the time of this study) and a good number are contented with the number of children they have. The result of this study has clearly shown that the menstrual irregularities experienced by athletes during sport participation may just be a temporary phenomenon and therefore has no adverse effect on the reproductive life of the athletes.

Citation

R.B. AJALA. PhD; ADISA .O. PhD; A.O. OLOYEDE. PhD. Sport Participation as an Antidote to Reproductive Function of Female Athletes. West African Journal of Physical and Health Education, 22, 178-186.

Keywords

Sport participation, Reproductive life, Female athlete and Menstrual Irregularities.

Author Details

R.B. AJALA. PhD
Department of Physical and Health Education, School of Science Osun State
College of Education, Ila-Orangun

ADISA .O. PhD 
Department of Physical and Health Education, School of Science Osun State
College of Education, Ila-Orangun

A.O.OLOYEDE. PhD
Department of Physical and Health Education, School of Science Osun State
College of Education, Ila-Orangun