The CSD will launch in the first quarter of 2026 a Sports Women's Health Unit in the CAR of Madrid
This pioneering project was born with the mission of providing specialized, preventive and gender-sensitive medical care to high-level athletes.
Madrid, December 11, 2025.- The president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, announced during his speech at the forum "The health of sportswomen", organized by InfoLibre, the creation of the Sports Women's Health Unit, a pioneering project that will come into operation in the first quarter of 2026 and that will be located in the CAR of Madrid.
Rodríguez Uribes stressed that this initiative is “a firm step towards consolidating a new paradigm: a sport that understands, respects and accompanies the reality of women”.
This new unit, dependent on the Sports Medicine Center of the High Performance Center of the Higher Sports Council in Madrid, was born with the mission of providing specialized, preventive and gender-sensitive medical care to girls, young people and women athletes of high level.
A pioneering unit, which will offer comprehensive attention with a gender perspective
Its work will focus on the early detection, treatment and monitoring of specific pathologies, always guaranteeing a multidisciplinary, ethical approach and oriented to the protection of the physical and mental integrity of athletes.
In this regard, the president of the CSD has stressed that the creation of this unit responds to the mandate of the new Sports Law, which recognizes health as a fundamental right and requires that the physiological uniqueness of women and the social conditions that have historically limited their sports development be addressed.
The Sports Women's Health Unit will integrate research, medical follow-up, psychological support, specialized physiotherapy and accompaniment in key stages such as maternity or the return to competition.
Its goal is “to ensure that every woman who trains and competes in our country does so with the best tools, with the best knowledge available and with a team prepared to understand their specific needs,” said Rodríguez Uribes.
The unit will be structured into six specific intervention programs, aimed at addressing the main areas that impact on women's health and performance: harassment and abuse in the sports environment, gynecological pathology in the athlete, urinary incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunctions, triad of the athlete (RED-s), injuries of the locomotor apparatus and over-training and alterations of the menstrual cycle.
This announcement was made during a meeting held in the space The Glassware, which brought together reference specialists in sports medicine, physiotherapy, psychology and sports sciences.
The forum has been conceived as a space for information, dialogue and awareness to deepen the factors that directly influence the health and performance of women athletes.
For the president of the CSD, the topics addressed in this day represent “the lives of thousands of athletes, although until very recently they were invisible to science, to sports structures and even to our regulations”.
“Today we are closing that gap. With data, with rigour and with the will to change”, he added.
The CSD presents the Guide to Women's Sports Health
During the event, the Sports Women's Health Guide, developed by the Subdirectorate General of Women and Sport in collaboration with the Subdirectorate General of Sports Sciences of the Higher Council of Sports, has also been presented.
The guide was born to overcome the androcentric bias that for decades has marked sports research and practice and is conceived as an informative and reference tool for athletes, technical staff, coaches, federations and health personnel.
Its content is articulated in two blocks: one dedicated to explaining the body autonomy of women athletes and another oriented to provide practical tools for technical staff.
The president of the CSD has highlighted that this publication has been prepared “with scientific rigor and with the collaboration of reference specialists” and has celebrated that it will contribute to provide clear, updated and useful information to improve the well-being and performance of athletes.
Rodríguez Uribes also recalled that the implementation of the Sports Women’s Health Unit and the publication of the teaching guide are the result of a strategic work by the CSD, which combines science, health, performance and equality, “turning Spain into a reference in the development of sports policies adapted to the real needs of women”.
“The health of women athletes is not a sectoral or circumstantial issue. It is a historical debt and, above all, a present priority. We will continue to work to ensure that every woman who decides to dedicate herself to sport, from the grassroots to the highest level, can do so with the security, accompaniment and respect she deserves.”
The forum on “The health of sportswomen” has also had a colloquium in which Iñaki Melendro, deputy director general of Sports Sciences of the CSD, África López, medical specialist in Medicine of Physical Education and Sport, Rubén Barakat, professor of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, specialist in exercise and maternal and fetal health, Elena Sonsoles, physiotherapist, researcher and teacher in pelvic health, and María Barbano, occupational therapist, physiotherapist and researcher participated.
All of them have shared their knowledge on those aspects that directly influence the well-being and performance of women with reflections on performance and integral health, the menstrual cycle and training, pelvic floor physiotherapy and gestation and postpartum, among others.
- Access the complete guide in the following link.