Grant: Project Grant - Priority Announcement: Female Athlete Health

The last 50 years has seen a transformational shift in attitudes towards greater acceptance of female athletes. As support for female athletes grow, many athletic careers have extended such that the window of peak performance overlaps with the window of fertility. The only available consensus statement on practices to athletes during and following pregnancy were published by the International Olympic Committee in 2015. Given the limited evidence available at that time, the recommendations mirrored current exercise guidelines for the general population. But these guidelines are not "fit for purpose" for elite athletes who engage in high intensity, duration, and or volumes of training that substantially exceed the globally recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week. Since 2015, there has been an increase of research in mother-athletes. These novel data demonstrate prenatal sport participation is not associated with adverse events during pregnancy or delivery. Recognizing the critical need to "rehabilitate" following childbirth, return-to-sport frameworks specific to postpartum runners have begun to emerge. Thus, we aim to assemble an international Expert Panel to develop an updated Consensus Statement on Sport Participation for Pregnant and Postpartum Athletes outlining best practice recommendations and supports for recreational to elite-level athletes during and following pregnancy. The aims of the expert committee are to: 1) Provide two systematic reviews examining the impact of sport participation on health & performance outcomes of pregnant and postpartum athletes. 2) Utilize the systematic reviews to identify evidence-based recommendations for athletes during and following pregnancy. 3) Conduct a two-day workshop to develop a Consensus Statement of best practice recommendations for pregnancy and postpartum sport participation. 4) Engage end users, stakeholders and content experts to provide feedback on the consensus statement.