Feburuary 2, 2026

Why I Started HERcovery...The Girls Exist but the Science Doesn't.

By Lylah Ruparel

Last spring, I partially tore my ATFL (a ligament in my ankle) at USA Gymnastics Regionals. The injury sidelined me for months. While I was recovering, I started reading the scientific literature, because I was curious about what advances were being made in sports medicine and injury prevention given that I was wrapping my knee with an ACE wrap, like my mom did when she tore her ACL as a dancer 40 years ago.

What I found was amazing: growth factor delivery systems, smart regenerative materials, nanofiber scaffolds with mechanical properties close to native tissue. Researchers around the world are literally engineering ligaments from collagen scaffolds.

But what I also found was this: the research driving these innovations was overwhelmingly conducted on male athletes, with female physiology treated as a variation to be addressed later, if at all.

That gap is what led me to found The HERcovery Project.

The Problem: Girls Are Not Small Men

Most sports medicine research is conducted on male athletes. The protocols used to prevent injury in female athletes from training modifications, movement screenings, rehabilitation timelines, are largely extrapolated from studies that did not include us even though: 

∙ Female athletes tear their ACLs at rates 4 to 8 times higher than males

∙ We know hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle affect ligament laxity and injury risk

∙ We know female biomechanics differ from male biomechanics in ways that matter enormously for injury prevention

And yet the prevention protocols handed to girls’ coaches are often the same ones developed for boys’ programs. We’re applying the wrong blueprint to the wrong body.

The Stakes: Why This Matters Beyond Sports

Girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys by the end of high school, and injury is a leading cause.

When a girl loses access to sport due to an injury that female-informed prevention science could have reduced or avoided, the consequences extend far beyond the field, the court, and the gym:

∙ 94% of female C-suite executives played sports in high school

∙ Female athletes consistently outperform non-athletes academically

∙ Sports build the leadership, resilience, and teamwork that carry people through careers and communities

Injury prevention for female athletes is not a niche concern. It’s a leadership pipeline issue. Every girl pushed out of sport by preventable injury is a future leader we’re losing before she even gets started.

The Resource Gap

The girls most likely to be pushed out of sport by injury are often the girls for whom sport matters most—those from lower-income families, girls of color, girls navigating limited pathways to college and career. They’re also the least likely to have access to proper recovery resources or to be represented in the research that could protect them.

That’s why HERcovery provides recovery kits, which include resistance bands, foam rollers, proper ankle supports, and educational materials about injury prevention, pads and tampons, to girls’ teams in under-resourced schools. We’ve now served over 40 teams across New York City public schools. The coaches are grateful. The girls are thankful. And the fact that a 15-year-old had to build this at all tells you exactly how wide the gap is.

What HERcovery Does

The HERcovery Project works on two fronts:

1. IMPACT: HERcovery KitsTangible recovery resources (resistance bands, foam rollers, ankle supports, educational materials) delivered to girls’ teams in NYC public schools.

2. EDUCATION: Research, Conversations, and AdvocacyI’m exploring the science behind female athlete health through blog posts, expert interviews, and research synthesis, asking questions like:

∙ How does the menstrual cycle impact training and performance?

∙ What does biomedical engineering teach us about joint stability and injury mechanics?

∙ What’s the neuroscience behind fear, confidence, and return-to-sport psychology?

∙ Why are injury prevention strategies designed for male athletes failing female athletes?

This isn’t just about recovery from injury. It’s about helping girls stay in sports, in their bodies, and in themselves.

Why I’m Doing This

I started competing in gymnastics when I was six years old. The gym was the first place I didn’t have to shrink, the first place where my voice mattered, where effort counted more than how I looked doing it. When I got injured, I realized how quickly girls who didn't have the access I did can lose access to that space, not just because of the injury itself, but because they don’t have the resources, education, or support to recover safely and come back stronger.

Every girl deserves a sport that sees her, supports her, and is built for her body. The science doesn’t exist yet for female athletes the way it exists for male athletes. The resources aren’t distributed equitably. But that’s changing and I’m working to be part of that change.

What’s Next

Moving forward, my focus through HERcovery’s education platform will be on female-specific athletic health which will include the research, the gaps, the innovations, and the conversations we need to have to keep girls healthy and in sport longer.

If you’re a coach, parent, or athlete who cares about this work, I hope you’ll follow along. If you know a team that could benefit from HERcovery Kits, reach out. And if you’re as curious as I am about why girls’ bodies are still an afterthought in sports science, let’s talk about it.

Because the girls exist. The science just needs to catch up.

Sources & Further Reading

• National Institutes of Health. (2016). Sex as a Biological Variable in Biomedical Research. NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health.

• Hewett, T. E., Myer, G. D., & Ford, K. R. (2006). Anterior cruciate ligament injuries in female athletes: Part 1, mechanisms and risk factors. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 34(2), 299–311.

• Wojtys, E. M., Huston, L. J., Lindenfeld, T. N., Hewett, T. E., & Greenfield, M. L. (1998). Association between the menstrual cycle and anterior cruciate ligament injuries in female athletes. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 26(5), 614–619.

• Sabo, T., et al. (2021). Women in Sport Leadership: Research on the Underrepresentation and Experiences of Women in Sport Leadership. Women in Sport Leadership Foundation.

• HERcovery Project — In Converstation... Series (2026)