PROTOTYPE · Interactive demonstration for development. All athlete data, scores and reference figures shown are illustrative examples only.
ARTIA
Women's health screening

The whole woman.

Artia is a women's health screening platform for elite female athletes and personnel, delivered by APA Titled Women's Health Physiotherapists. It asks the questions specific to women's health that most often go unasked and under-reported. Screening makes them routine, opens a line of communication where there was none, and makes sure the women who need help are the ones who receive it. Over time it shifts the culture, so women feel supported across every domain of their health and wellbeing.

In our research with elite Australian rugby union players, 60% reported leaking urine during training or on the field. Only 12.5% had ever told anyone at their club.

+The evidence
Source
Faulks and Catto, 2021. Peer reviewed study of condition prevalence in elite Australian rugby union players.
Design
Cross-sectional survey, self-reported symptoms.
Population
Elite Australian female rugby union players.
Shows
That leaking urine during training or on the field was common in this cohort, and that disclosure to club staff was rare. The figure is sport-related leakage, not leakage during daily life.
Context
Independent meta-analysis puts urinary incontinence at around 35% across female athletes, a 177% higher risk than sedentary women (Teixeira and colleagues). Non-athlete control groups report stress urinary incontinence at 3.5 to 14.3%. Higher rates are consistently found in high-impact sport.
Does not show
Prevalence in one sport and cohort is not a national figure across all sports. Self-report may under-count, since athletes who have never disclosed a symptom may also under-report it. Higher prevalence in athletes is an association, not proof that sport causes it.
To confirm before publication: journal, sample size, and whether the 12.5% disclosure figure is a proportion of all players or of symptomatic players only. The sentence above assumes all players.

artios · complete, whole

What we are

Artia

Artia is a women's health screening platform founded by Kylie Faulks, an APA Titled Women's Health Physiotherapist and co-author of published Australian research on condition prevalence in elite athletes. It was first delivered inside a professional NRLW squad, and the same clinical core now serves women in other high-demand roles.

We screen the whole woman across five areas of women's health, review every screen clinically, and connect her to the care and education that follows. Not single symptoms in isolation.

Clinician led, evidence based, built for demanding environments.

Delivered by Kylie Faulks Women's Health Physiotherapy, Capital Women's Health Pty Ltd.

Who we screen

Two populations, one clinical core

The conditions are the same. The context is not. Artia holds one clinical core, with the questions, thresholds and resources tuned to the population being screened. Nobody chooses their own configuration. It is set by the organisation and signed off clinically.

Elite sport

Athletes

Professional and semi-professional squads across rugby league, rugby union, volleyball and gymnastics. Screening is framed around training load, contact, competition and the season.

Delivered as a club licence, with de-identified squad reporting and clinical follow-up for the individual.

Elite personnel

Defence and tactical roles

Women in physically demanding occupational roles, where load carriage, field conditions, deployment and shift patterns shape both the risk and the reporting. Screening is framed around duty and readiness rather than a season.

In development. The clinical core is the same; the population profile and resources are being authored and clinically signed off.

Why women's health screening

The need is real, and it is often hidden

Bladder, menstrual, pelvic, energy and bowel conditions are common among women in physically demanding roles. They affect availability, output and how long a woman stays in the role. Most are highly treatable. The problem has never been treatment. It is that these conditions go unspoken, so they are never identified and never addressed.

Silence does not mean the symptom is absent. It means she is managing it alone. Most self-manage, and the strategies they reach for carry their own cost. The barrier is not access to treatment. It is that nobody asks, and so nobody knows.

Screening removes the need for her to raise it first. It makes the question routine, and it makes the answer count.

In elite sport
60%Elite rugby union players leak urine during training or on field
12.5%Had ever disclosed it to their club
76.8%Elite athletes say their cycle negatively affects performance
23–64%Female team-sport athletes at risk of low energy availability
+The evidence behind these figures
60% and 12.5% · bladder leakage and disclosure
Source
Faulks and Catto, 2021.
Design
Cross-sectional survey, self-reported symptoms and disclosure.
Population
Elite Australian female rugby union players.
Shows
Symptoms of stress urinary incontinence were common in this cohort, and very few players had raised them with anyone at their club.
Does not show
A prevalence figure for all female athletes, or why disclosure was low. One sport, one cohort. Self-report may under-count, since athletes who never disclose a symptom may also under-report it.
To confirm before publication: journal, sample size, and whether the 12.5% figure is a proportion of all players or of symptomatic players only.
76.8% · cycle and performance
Source
Martin and colleagues, 2024, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.
Design
Longitudinal questionnaire, repeated every six months across five years.
Population
128 elite British track and field athletes.
Shows
Most athletes perceived a negative effect of their cycle on performance. Dysmenorrhoea and cycle irregularity were common in the same cohort.
Does not show
An objectively measured drop in performance. This is perceived impact, self-reported, in track and field rather than team sport.
23 to 64% · low energy availability
Source
Logue and colleagues, 2020, review of low energy availability in athletes.
Design
Narrative review of studies using questionnaires and measured energy availability.
Population
Female athletes across sports, including team sports.
Shows
Risk of low energy availability is common, across a wide range of reported figures.
Does not show
A single prevalence figure. The range is wide because methods, sports and thresholds differ between studies. Screening tools indicate risk, not a diagnosis of REDs.
To confirm against the annotated bibliography: exact range and the studies it draws on.
What athletes do instead

Most self-manage

Athletes rarely stop. They adapt around the symptom, quietly, using strategies that hide it rather than treat it. Fewer than one in ten have ever told a health professional. Two of the three most common strategies work directly against performance and recovery.

Wearing pads

Manages the leak, not the cause. Often incompatible with playing kit, and a daily reminder that something is wrong.

Restricting fluid

Reduces leaking by risking dehydration and heat stress. Directly compromises performance, recovery and safety.

Voiding frequently

Emptying before and during sessions. Over time this can worsen urgency rather than settle it.

+The evidence behind this
Self-management, and fewer than 10% disclosing
Source
Dakic and colleagues, qualitative study of women playing sport or exercising with pelvic floor symptoms, drawing on a systematic review of coping strategies in elite female athletes.
Design
Qualitative interview study, alongside a systematic review of quantitative studies on disclosure and coping.
Population
Women with pelvic floor symptoms who play sport or exercise, and elite female athletes across sports.
Shows
Elite female athletes commonly manage urinary symptoms by wearing pads, restricting fluids and voiding frequently. Self-disclosure is uncommon: fewer than 10% have ever told a health professional.
Does not show
How many athletes use each strategy, or that self-management causes harm in a measured way. Qualitative findings describe experience rather than quantify it. The dehydration and heat stress risk of fluid restriction is well established in sports medicine, but it has not been trialled as a consequence of managing incontinence.
To confirm before publication: full citation details, checked against the annotated bibliography.
Compared with the general population

Sport raises the rate, it does not explain it away

Bladder leakage is more common in female athletes than in women who do not train, and more common again in high-impact sport. It is not the price of playing. It is a treatable condition that elite training makes more likely, and that elite environments rarely ask about.

Female athletes

~35%report urinary incontinence, across sports

Non-athlete controls

3.5–14.3%report stress urinary incontinence

High-level sport

3.3×the adjusted odds of stress incontinence

+The evidence behind this comparison
~35% in athletes, and 177% higher risk than sedentary women
Source
Teixeira and colleagues, meta-analysis of urinary incontinence in female athletes.
Design
Systematic review with meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies.
Population
Female athletes across many sports, mean age around 24 years.
Shows
Pooled prevalence of urinary incontinence around 35%, with substantially higher risk than sedentary women.
Does not show
That sport causes incontinence. These are associations from cross-sectional data. Prevalence varies enormously by sport, from about 5% in low-impact activity to 80% in trampolining, so a single pooled figure conceals a wide range.
3.5 to 14.3% in non-athlete controls, and adjusted odds of 3.31 for high-level sport
Source
Control-group figures summarised across studies of non-athletic women. Adjusted odds ratio 3.31 (95% CI 2.20 to 4.97) from a case-control study of high-level athletes versus controls, adjusted for parity-related and other confounders.
Design
Case-control comparison, adjusted for constipation, family history of incontinence and history of urinary infection.
Population
High-level female athletes compared with non-athletic controls.
Shows
Stress urinary incontinence was markedly more common in athletes (19.6%) than controls (3.5%), and competing at a high level remained independently associated with it after adjustment.
Does not show
Causation, or that the effect is the same in every sport or at every level. Control groups differ in age and body composition between studies, and definitions of incontinence are not identical across them.
To confirm before publication: full citation details for both sources, checked against the annotated bibliography.
In elite personnel

The same conditions, a different context

Australian research in servicewomen and veterans finds pelvic health concerns are common and frequently co-exist. The pattern differs from sport in an important way. Urinary symptom rates sit close to those of the general Australian female population rather than above them, so the argument here is not that service raises the rate. It is that these conditions are common, occupationally consequential, and not routinely asked about.

71%Australian servicewomen reported a pelvic health concern
27%Reported regular urinary incontinence
41%Regularly experienced two or more urinary symptoms
24%Reported co-existing pelvic health issues
+The evidence behind these figures
71%, 24% and the condition breakdown · pelvic health in servicewomen
Source
O'Shea and colleagues, 2025, Women & Health. Companion paper to the 2022 cohort below.
Design
Online cross-sectional survey, snowball sampling, self-reported.
Population
491 women who had completed at least six months active-duty service in the Australian Defence Force, serving and veteran.
Shows
Pelvic health concerns were reported by 350 of 491 respondents. The breakdown included sexual dysfunction 41%, gynaecological surgery 34%, menstrual cycle manipulation 32%, frequent pelvic pain 20%, endometriosis 18%, irregular cycles 17%, pelvic organ prolapse 12% and pelvic injury 10%. Co-existence of more than one issue was reported by 24%.
Does not show
A population prevalence figure. Snowball sampling reached roughly 1% of eligible women, and response bias is likely, since women with concerns are more inclined to answer a survey about them. The cohort includes veterans as well as serving members.
27% and 41% · lower urinary tract symptoms
Source
O'Shea, Pope, Freire and Orr, 2022, International Urogynecology Journal.
Design
Online cross-sectional survey, self-reported, same cohort of 491 respondents.
Population
Australian Defence Force servicewomen and female veterans.
Shows
27% reported regular urinary incontinence, made up of stress 23%, urge 16% and mixed 13%. Bladder storage issues were reported by 20 to 27% and voiding impairments by 9 to 27%. 41% regularly experienced two or more symptoms, and for over two thirds the symptoms were ongoing rather than resolved. 38% reported no urinary symptoms at all.
Does not show
That military service causes these symptoms. The authors report rates broadly comparable with the general Australian female population, and symptoms were associated with age and parity. This is an argument for tailored monitoring and support, not for elevated occupational risk.
To confirm before publication: exact figures and wording against the source papers, and whether an equivalent disclosure figure to our 12.5% exists in the defence literature. No validated disclosure rate is cited here because we have not yet identified one.
Why the Artia screen

Minutes from her, depth where it counts

The screen is gated. Every athlete answers the core questions, and the fuller validated assessments open only where her answers warrant them. So the squad gives very little time, and no individual concern is missed.

Low burden

A symptom-free athlete completes the screen in around 15 to 20 questions, minutes rather than a session. Gating means she is never asked to work through areas that do not apply to her.

High yield

An athlete with a concern is taken exactly as deep as her answers require, through validated instruments and a clinical review of every result. Little is asked, and nothing treatable is left unspoken.

Current evidence

Every instrument is validated and published, and every threshold is drawn from the literature. The evidence base and athlete resources are reviewed against current research each quarter.

The quarterly review runs to a defined schedule, with clinical sign-off on every change.

What it costs

Untreated, these conditions push women out of the roles they have worked for

Self-management holds for a while, then it does not. Nearly one in five women report avoiding or stopping exercise because of urinary symptoms, and that rises sharply with severity. Yet after pelvic floor muscle training, women with stress incontinence are around eight times more likely to report being cured. The loss of availability, and of the women themselves, is almost entirely preventable once someone asks the question and acts on the answer.

+The evidence
Source
Nygaard and colleagues, 2005, and Cardenas-Trowers and colleagues, 2023, for exercise avoidance. Dumoulin and colleagues, 2018, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, for treatment effect.
Design
Population surveys for avoidance. Cochrane systematic review of randomised trials for treatment.
Population
Community-dwelling women, not athletes, in both the avoidance surveys and most treatment trials.
Shows
That urinary symptoms cause women to avoid or stop exercising, and that pelvic floor muscle training substantially increases the chance of reported cure compared with no treatment.
Does not show
That these figures transfer directly to elite athletes. The avoidance and treatment data come from general female populations. Trial participants self-reported cure, and trials varied in supervision and duration.

Common is not normal. And almost all of it is treatable.

What we do

The screen

Artia asks every woman, privately and without stigma, across five areas of women's health, and puts a Women's Health Physiotherapist behind every answer. Women disclose to a private screen what they may not raise in person, and each result is triaged, given a pathway, and connected to treatment and education.

Core bladder and menstrual questions go to everyone, since these are the most under-reported. Deeper validated assessments for pelvic pain, energy and bowel unlock only where her own answers call for them. The result is a clinically reviewed picture of women's health across the whole group, which a standard medical or pre-employment intake does not set out to capture.

i.

Screen

Everyone completes the private screen in five to eight minutes, at set points through the season or duty cycle, across all five areas.

ii.

Triage

Every result is clinically reviewed by a Women's Health Physiotherapist. Each woman receives an outcome, a pathway, matched resources and a follow up call where warranted.

iii.

Report

Each woman receives her personal results against group and published figures. The organisation receives de-identified group results benchmarked against published research.

What the organisation gets

Included

The screen is the beginning. What follows is the value: reporting at both individual and group level, a clear pathway into care, education matched to every result, a season of comparable data your organisation owns, and a clear read on where women's health is holding someone back.

Personal report

Every woman receives a personal report: each area scored, benchmarked against her group and against published research, with her outcome, her pathway and her next step.

Group report

A de-identified group report: completion, outcome distribution and per area prevalence benchmarked against published research, so your organisation sees the whole picture at once.

Follow up

Follow up by a Women's Health Physiotherapist where your tier includes it, or a clear, ready to forward clinical summary for your own doctor or physiotherapist.

Resources

The full library of evidence based women's health material, delivered automatically to each woman in the version matched to her result in every area.

Re-screening

Follow up screening and reporting over time, so change is measured against each woman's own baseline rather than judged from a single snapshot.

Data

Structured, validated data collected once and analysed instantly, giving your organisation a longitudinal view of group health that builds year on year.

Performance

Alongside the validated clinical measures, Artia captures each woman's own account of how women's health affects her work and training. It shows plainly where symptoms are limiting output, availability or confidence, and what is holding her back.

  • How symptoms change what she does at training and on duty or game day
  • Which areas she reports as limiting her, and by how much
  • A group wide view of performance impact, tracked over time
For her

Removing the barriers

Women's health issues are one of the quiet reasons women limit training, hide symptoms, or step away from the role altogether. Artia removes the barriers that keep them silent.

  • No need to raise it first. The screen asks, so she never has to find the words to start the conversation.
  • Private by default. Individual answers go to the clinical team, not to coaching, command or management.
  • A clinician, not a form. Every result is reviewed by a Women's Health Physiotherapist, with a real pathway to care.
  • Normalised, group wide. When everyone screens, no one is singled out, and asking for help stops being a risk.
Our mission

Keeping women in the roles they have earned, by honouring the female body

We make space to identify and remove the health barriers that push women out of elite sport and demanding roles. One screen, one clinical team, one standard held across the whole group.

Screen the whole group. Treat the individual.

Contact

Talk to us

Enquiries from clubs, programs, organisations and individuals are always welcome. Reach out for program tiers, timing and a walkthrough, and we will set up a scope call.

Current and previous

Clubs and athletes

CLUB LOGOCLUB LOGOATHLETEATHLETE

Current and previous club and athlete logos display here, each with written approval.