“And this is something that’s been a long time coming.”Stream San Diego News for free, 24/7, wherever you are with NBC 7. WATCH HERE WATCH HEREDespite the exponential growth of female athletes across competitive sports, less than 10% of research has focused on women and their bodies, according to Ackerman. Ackerman went to medical school after retiring from competition, dedicating her career to closing the gaps for women in sports medicine research. “Because there’s so much talk about women athletes, and because there’s so much talk about women’s health, people feel that, ‘Oh, it must be taken care of,'” Ackerman said. Relative energy deficiency, a syndrome that occurs when athletes are not getting the right level of fuel for the calories they burn, is also an area where research has not asked the right questions for female athletes, Ackerman said.