Gender/sex-specific considerations for sport-related injury: FAIR consensus

Female/woman/girl athletes have high and rising sport-related injury rates. Injury prevention approaches for female/woman/girl athletes are not commonly viewed through a gender-based socio-cultural lens. Gender- and/or sex-specific factors relevant to injury risk for female/woman/girl athletes participating in community to elite levels of sport need to be considered. Melissa Haberfield APAM is a physiotherapist with over 16 years of clinical experience, and a current PhD candidate at La Trobe University's Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre. Melissa’s PhD is exploring sex/gender differences following ACL injury, and how to optimise outcomes for women. In 2025, she won the Wendy E Award for best paper—Women in Sport at the SMA Conference. As a clinical physiotherapist, she has worked across all facets of the profession, most notably in the elite female sporting space.