The everyWoman Blog: Got Breasts? The Perfect Sports Bra Is Coming To The Rescue.

Taken from here.

Now that Oprah is off the air, who’s going to tell us how to find the perfect bra? Although, I don’t recall her–or anyone else–ever doing a show about finding the ideal sports bra. But, as any female runner, gym-goer or participant in any exercise where bouncing is involved knows, the right sports bra can be the difference between a few extra miles or a few hours in agony over chafing and pain. All of which means non-flat-chested women are going to rejoice when they hear that scientists believe they have found the answer to the perfect sports bra.

According to a new study published in the Journal of Sports Science, researcher have identified how the breasts move and cause discomfort during exercise based on distance, velocity and acceleration. The study monitored 15 D-cup women running on a treadmill and analyzed how their breasts moved without a bra, with a bra and with a sports bra. What they found was that the majority of women experienced some type of discomfort.

Research director, Joanna Scurr, director of the Breast Health Unit at the University of Portsmouth explained:

Up to 72 percent of women experience pain or discomfort either during or after exercise. Whether for elite athletes or once-a-week joggers, this can have a negative effect on your performance and can also deter women from taking part in physical activity.

Up until now, experts have believed that the distance a woman ran was the biggest contributor to pain. But, as seen in this study, the speed of breast movement accounted for 56% of the pain, while the distance and acceleration were attributed to 43% and 37% respectively. Also, until now, many of us believed that the up-and-down bouncing motion was the most painful, but the researchers found it was actually the side-to-side motion of the breasts that hindered performance the most.

Scurr added:

Until now bras have been designed in a completely ad hoc way. It’s amazing that the science hasn’t been done before.

Interestingly enough, another study showed that breast pain while exercising was not limited to breast size, saying that it was just as likely for women with an A-cup as an F-cup, although it definitely has to be more challenging for large-busted women.

The good news in all of this is that manufacturers are now working to develop new criteria for the ideal sports bra, so stay tuned.

Photo: allwomenstalk.com

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