Innovation through Co-Creation in Women’s Boxing: A Situated Reflection on Boundary Objects

Abstract

Women’s participation in boxing has expanded rapidly, yet health management practices related to repetitive head impacts remain largely shaped by male-centred evidence, uncertain long-term consequences and formal clinical thresholds, creating persistent gaps around head impact exposure, where symptoms are diffuse, cumulative and often normalised in training cultures. This article presents a situated practitioner–researcher reflection on an exploratory initiative in women’s boxing, by examining how biomechanical data and embodied experience are integrated through practice-based research. Instrumented mouthguard data were curated into visual reports and discussed with athletes as potential resources for health awareness and prevention. Three anonymised episodes are examined, including: differences in exposure patterns between athletes; the repurposing of the reports for tactical preparation; and the preference for impact location visualisations and comparative information. The reflections suggest that the reports functioned as boundary objects by bringing biomechanical measurements into dialogue with the athletes’ embodied and tactical knowledge. However, they did not produce a change in daily practice. Athletes often prioritised immediate performance benefits over future health risks, while coach engagement with the data was uneven. The study contributes to an implicit everyday co-creation process and identifies both the innovation potential and the practical limits of prevention data communication in a pro-risk sport culture.