For female horse riders, breast pain, bra issues and breast size may be important concerns which have yet to be considered. This study aimed to establish the prevalence of breast pain and bra issues in female horse riders and explores the impact of breast size on breast pain and bra issues. A 6-part, 32 question online survey was completed by 1324 females who participated in horse riding activities. Descriptive and chi-squared (χ) analyses were utilised; data for 1265 participants were included in the final analysis. Breast pain was experienced by 40% of all participants and this was significantly related to self-reported cup size (χ = 54.825, P < 0.001), increasing linearly. Breast pain was experienced most frequently during sitting trot and 21% of symptomatic participants reported that breast pain affected their horse riding performance. At least one bra issue was reported by 59% of participants; larger-breasted participants reported experiencing all bra issues more frequently than smaller-breasted participants (P < 0.001). These results demonstrate that educational initiatives are needed to ensure female horse riders are informed about appropriate bra fit and breast support during horse riding to increase comfort and help reduce the potential negative associations with performance.

Increasing retention of female recruits throughout Basic Training (BT) is a key priority for the British Army. The aims of this study were two-fold; (i) quantify breast health issues and sports bra usage within female British Army recruits, and (ii) assess the influence of professionally fitted sports bras on breast health and bra fit issues across 13 weeks of BT. A survey was completed by 246 female recruits that identified the incidence of breast health issues during BT. Subsequently, 33 female recruits were provided with professionally fitted sports bras during Week-1 of BT. Recruits completed a survey in Week-1 (Pre) and Week-13 (Post). There was a high incidence of bra issues during BT, which did not reduce following the implementation of professionally fitted sports bras. The authors recommend further research into the specific functional requirements of breast support relative to the demands of BT and the needs of the female recruit.

This review aimed to synthesise the findings of literature that have assessed the changes in lower limb biomechanics following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructive surgery. Systematic searches of CINHAL, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, and SPORTDiscus databases were run. All included studies had presented biomechanical variables pre-and post-surgery for the same participants. Articles were categorised by the analysed movement, and effect sizes were calculated.Fifty-four studies met the inclusion criteria, providing data on gait (n=31), balance (n=12), joint position sense (n=5), stair ambulation (n=4), pivoting (n=6), and landing (n=5). Measures of balance performance and joint position sense showed improvements from pre-to post-surgery. Changes in joint kinematics were inconsistent between studies, however increased knee flexion excursion, and reduced tibial anterior translation and internal rotation post reconstruction were identified. Joint kinetics reduced in magnitude in the early stages after surgery (≤5 weeks), then increased later in recovery (≥24 weeks). Risk of bias assessment identified most articles had a moderate or high risk (low=5; moderate=21; high=11) resulting from participant retention and surgical intervention differences. The results of the review identified that although lower limb biomechanics did alter following reconstruction, few variables provided consistent results across studies and tasks.The low methodological quality of some articles may have contributed to these inconsistent findings. Alternatively, differences across studies may have resulted from individual coping strategies of participants that have previously been suggested to be present before reconstructive surgery, and future research should look to explore individual coping strategies to ACL reconstruction.

Horse riding is a female-dominated sport where participation levels are declining. The influence of the breast on participation levels and current satisfaction with bras for this activity is unknown. This study aimed to investigate bra concerns and breast-related barriers to participation in horse riding. A 6-part, 32 question online survey was completed by 1,324 females who participated in horse riding. Descriptive and chi-squared analyses were utilised; inductive content analysis was completed to analyse qualitative responses. At least one breast-related barrier was reported by 25% of all participants. Larger-breasted riders were less satisfied (P<0.001) with their bras. 70% of riders stated that improvements needed to be made in bras to help reduce breast health issues, with support, style and fit the most common reasons cited. This study highlights the importance of addressing breast-related barriers and provides rationale for the development of equestrian-specific breast support garments and educational initiatives.

Breast biomechanics, exercise-induced breast pain (EIBP) and performance effects in female athletes are established. Wearing sports bras during exercise reduces breast movement and EIBP. Despite the prevalence of female equestrians, little investigation of breast movement during horse riding exists, yet excessive breast movement, embarrassment and EIBP are reported. Breast movement relative to the torso is linked to EIBP, associated with magnitude and direction of forces generated. Equestrians may experience novel breast and upper-body movement patterns in response to large vertical excursions of the horse. This study aimed to establish relative vertical breast displacement (RVBD), EIBP and positional changes in three support conditions: ‘no support’, ‘low support’ and ‘high support’. Thirty-eight female equestrians rode a Racewood™ Equine Simulator in each breast support condition in medium walk, medium trot (sitting) and medium canter. Trials were filmed and analysed using Quintic® Biomechanics V29. Significant reductions in RVBD (P<0.001) and EIBP (P<0.001) were identified with increased breast support in all gaits. In medium trot (sitting) a significant reduction in range of movement (ROM) of shoulder-elbow-wrist (P<0.001) was seen from low to high support. ROM of torso-vertical angles were reduced from no support to low support (P<0.001) and further by high support (P<0.001). This reduction in ROM was significantly greater in large breasted riders (cup size DD-FF) (n=21) (P<0.001) compared to small breasted (cup size AA-D) (n=17). These results suggest that appropriate breast support positively impacts EIBP and riding position in female riders possibly enhancing performance. As RVBD and reported EIBP were not wholly comparative with results in female runners, further research is warranted to establish breast movement in equestrianism in three dimensions.