June 6, 2008

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Battling Exercise-Induced Breast Pain

A study of motion during exercise finds that the speed of movement in all three dimensions is the key to breast pain while exercising. Cynthia Graber reports.

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[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]

For women who are rather well-endowed, working out can sometimes be, well, a bit of a pain. Finding a good sports bra is key. Now new research on breast pain from Britain’s University of Portsmouth might provide some assistance in that search. Breast pain, it turns out, is related to the speed of movement, not the degree of up and down.

Sports scientist Joanna Scurr put 100 women on treadmills and attached sensors to their breasts. The women were asked to describe their pain or discomfort. And the movement of their breasts was measured, up and down, front and back, and side to side. Women claimed the most discomfort while speeding up and slowing down, which corresponded to the times their breasts were moving around the most quickly. Scurr says this means women should shop for a sports bra that cups each side individually. While typical sports bras flatten breasts and prevent that up and down movement, they don’t protect from front-and-back or side-to-side motion. But bras with separate cups tame movement in all directions. And, Scurr hopes, ease discomfort for those of us on the more zaftig side.

—Cynthia Graber

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Battling Exercise-Induced Breast Pain