How the characteristics of sports bras affect their performance

Abstract

Breast movement reduction (%) measures breast support and sports bra performance, however limited evidence exists on the sports bra characteristics which affect it. This study investigated breast movement reduction achieved by 98 sports bras, the categorization of support levels, and the characteristics that contribute. Each bra was tested on ~12 females (total n=77). Relative breast position was recorded during sports bra and bare-breasted running, and breast movement reduction calculated; low, medium, high breast support tertiles were identified and compared to brand-classified support levels. Ten bra characteristics were identified, and regressions determined which characteristics contributed to performance. Breast movement reduction ranged from 36% to 74%; 69% of bras marketed as high support were in the high support tertile (>63%). Encapsulation style, padded cups, nylon, adjustable underband and high neck drop accounted for 37.1% of breast movement reduction variance. Findings facilitate high performance sports bra development and inform consumer choice.

Effects of ventilation design on thermal comfort performance and breast displacement for sports bras

“…They were asked to ingest a telemetric pill sensor Cup pad and the cups completely covered breast were effective in limiting breast movement. [29][30][31][32][33] The cups elevated and compressed breast against the trunk was effective in limiting anterior-posterior breast movement. [29][30][31]34 Under-band…”

“…The adjustable under-band, 33 or the one made of strong, wide elastic material was effective in breast support. [29][30][31]35…”

“…In addition, the difference in the structures of sports bras (ventilation holes and neckline) may result in the differences of RBD during exercise. 29–31,33–35 Therefore, four hypotheses were stated as follows: H 1 : Ventilation holes in sports bras will significantly affect T s , H s , T c , and subjective sensations.H 2 : Deepening or widening the neckline will significantly affect T s , H s , T c , and subjective sensations.H 3 : Ventilation holes will significantly affect the RBD.H 4 : Deepening or widening the neckline will significantly affect the RBD.According to previous research, thermal comfort was affected by the size, style and the fabric physical properties of the sports bras, such as water vapor permeability and the friction of the fabric. For example, the heat produced by friction made the T s increase, and subjective perceptions of thermal comfort, such as roughness and wetness were affected by friction.…”

“…In addition, the improvement of thermal comfort performance should not be at the cost of the reduction of support performance, which was regarded as one of the most important functions of sports bras. However, most studies have focused only on support [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] or thermal comfort [7][8][9][10][11][12] (as shown in Table 1), little research has paid attention to both the breast support and thermal comfort performance of sports bras.…”

“…In addition, the difference in the structures of sports bras (ventilation holes and neckline) may result in the differences of RBD during exercise. [29][30][31][33][34][35] Therefore, four hypotheses were stated as follows:…”