An investigation into the prevalence and impact of breast pain, bra issues and breast size on female horse riders

Abstract

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.

Sports bra use, preferences and fit issues among exercising females in the US, the UK and China

“…The aim of this research was to establish and compare breast-related barriers to physical activity, sports bra use, purchasing habits, sports bra preferences and sports bra fit issues in three major global underwear markets (UK, US and China). Within these three populations, mode bra size (34B) was the same, supporting previous UK and Chinese research (Burbage and Cameron, 2017;Chen et al, 2019). Despite this, nearly half (48.7%) of UK participants were large-breasted (≥ D cup).…”

The incidence of breast health issues and the efficacy of a sports bra fit and issue service in British Army recruits

“…As such, the BT programme is necessarily arduous, involving cyclic high impact loading activities and tasks such as up and downhill running, foot-drill, circuit training, strength training, and marching with external loads of up to 40 kg (Armstrong et al 2019;Chapman et al 2019). Similar cyclic high impact activities involving continuous locomotion and rapid changes in direction are associated with exerciseinduced breast pain in athletic populations, through excessive and repetitive movement in the vertical, medial, and lateral directions (Burbage and Cameron 2017;Mason, Page, and Fallon 1999;White, Scurr, and Smith 2009). Exercise-induced breast pain remains an important health complaint that can significantly impact on the exercising females' physical performance, health and overall well-being (Brisbine et al 2020;Brown et al 2014b;Burbage and Cameron 2017).…”

“…Similar cyclic high impact activities involving continuous locomotion and rapid changes in direction are associated with exerciseinduced breast pain in athletic populations, through excessive and repetitive movement in the vertical, medial, and lateral directions (Burbage and Cameron 2017;Mason, Page, and Fallon 1999;White, Scurr, and Smith 2009). Exercise-induced breast pain remains an important health complaint that can significantly impact on the exercising females' physical performance, health and overall well-being (Brisbine et al 2020;Brown et al 2014b;Burbage and Cameron 2017). Furthermore, excessive breast movement during running can produce large forces on the breasts causing unnecessary breast skin strain and irreparable skin damage affecting breast aesthetics (Norris et al 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, Johnson et al (2006) investigated the prevalence and frequency of breast pain among 1,219 female US veterans and found that 55% reported at least one form of breast pain, of which 15% reported exercise-induced breast pain. It is wellknown that breast pain is an important health issue in exercising females, commonly linked with inappropriate breast support specific to the demands of the occupation, sport or activity (Brisbine et al 2020;Burbage and Cameron 2017;Burnett, White, and Scurr 2015;Johnson et al 2006;Scurr et al 2014). Due to the arduous nature of BT and military life, British Army female recruits may experience similar, if not greater breast pain, discomfort and fitting issues than athletes and veterans.…”

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Breast Pain

“…This type of pain is not associated with malignancy [8]. Benign causes of breast pain are numerous and include hormonal variations, larger cup size, ill-fitting or unsupportive bra, lower levels of fitness or activity, fibromyalgia, cysts, periductal mastitis, stretching of Cooper ligaments, fat necrosis, surgery, Mondor disease, diabetic mastopathy, duct ectasia, musculoskeletal disease, referred nerve root pain from degenerative spinal changes, herpes zoster, heart disease, biliary pain, and peptic ulcer [3,5,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”