Objectives Breast injuries are female-specific injuries that occur in women's sports. Literature investigating this important women's breast health issue is scarce. This review aimed to collate and summarise published research on breast injuries in women's sports, highlighting the limitations and gaps in the literature. Design Scoping review. Method Studies were included if they investigated breast injuries sustained by female athletes or the use of breast protective equipment in sports. Results Eight of the 152 studies identified met the inclusion criteria. Six were retrospective cross-sectional survey studies, and two were case studies. Breast injury prevalence ranged from 26% to 58% and was higher in contact and combat sports than in non-contact sports. Most injuries were deemed mild-moderate in severity because most athletes continued to play with their injury, albeit with a perceived negative effect on performance. In rare cases, injuries were severe with long-term consequences and required surgical intervention. Breast injury mechanism was sport-specific, and management and prevention strategies were extremely limited, with a low percentage of injuries reported (~ 10%) and a lack of breast injury surveillance. Conclusions The limited research conducted provides evidence that breast injuries occur in women's sports, are perceived to affect performance negatively and have potential long-term consequences. They are silent female-specific sports injuries because most are not reported or recorded by injury surveillance systems. Gaps in the literature include incidence data, objective data on sport-specific mechanisms, objective measures of severity and long-term consequences, and prevention strategies. Further research is required to raise awareness and develop evidence-based prevention and management strategies.
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