Playing Sports with Your Period: Menstrual Cups

October 13, 2020
By Danna Kasom

All of us know and can agree that playing sports with your period sucks. Not only do we have to deal with cramps, bloating, acne, and more. But we need to worry about our pad or tampon being okay while we’re running, sliding, and scoring on the pitch. Enter menstrual cups, a period product that will change your life. With them, it’s possible to live your life and play soccer more comfortably and confidently while on your period.

When I played competitively in travel, high school, and college, my biggest worry was not my cramps or my fatigue. We’ve been playing through our pre-menstrual symptoms since we can remember and we’ve developed ways to manage them.

There are plenty of options to soothe the pain come game day like applying heat, additional rest, pain relief medication, avoiding caffeine, etc. During my college game days I applied ThermaCare heat wraps, which helped a lot!

Surprisingly, I’ve noticed many of my period annoyances during soccer came from the unpredictability of a pad or tampon. I remember having anxiety while playing on my period, because I was afraid of bleeding threw my white home shorts. I’d have less anxiety at away games wearing dark jerseys.

Admittedly, there was one game I bled threw my white shorts during warm-up. I ran into the bathroom, my mom helped me get the stain out, and we put them under a hand dryer to dry. I missed a good portion of the warm-up and was yelled at by my coach that didn’t understand. Talk about stressful.

Pads and tampons move around while we run and sometimes create a mess. I remember feeling like my tampon was going to fall out while I ran. Unfortunately, sometimes my tampon was actually falling out. How annoying is that?

After all the disappointment I’ve experienced with tampons throughout my teens and early twenties, I switched to the menstrual cup. I have zero worries about my cup falling out while I run or bleeding threw my clothes. I’m completely confident that I can play without having a period disaster. Something that I couldn’t have said before.

A menstrual cup collects instead of absorbs. It takes a few times to get the hang of it, but it gets easier. You find a way to fold the cup that works for you, insert it like a tampon, and let go of the cup so it can suction. The suction forms a seal so it doesn’t leak. You can adjust it if it’s uncomfortable.

Before removing the cup, pinch the bottom of the cup to break the seal. There is a small stem on the bottom of the cup you can pull to remove it. A reusable menstrual cup can be sterilized by boiling it in water so there is no trash!

For more details ask a friend that already uses one or Youtube it. Change is good, especially if it will make your period more manageable on and off the field!