There are so many ways we can unintentionally injure ourselves when working out. A foot slammed onto an unsteady rock can lead to a twisted ankle, while lifting weights with poor technique can cause a pulled muscle. But there's another way we can cause damage: by failing to adequately support our breasts.
When breasts aren't properly supported during exercise they can bounce up to 21 centimetres, according to University of Portsmouth research led by Professor Joanna Wakefield-Scurr. However, according to a Google survey of more than 500 women, 40 per cent of Australian women don't wear a sports bra while exercising.
With compelling reasons to pop on a sports bra before breaking into a sweat, the next question is which one to choose.Credit:Shutterstock
All that movement can lead to breast pain severe enough to be a real barrier to women exercising and can cause other negative consequences, such as altered breathing frequency and poorer sports performance.
Over time, inadequate support can also lead to saggy breasts, says Sydney plastic surgeon Dr Robert Drielsma. That's because each breast is held in place by only two structures: the overlying skin, and underlying Cooper's ligaments. Once stretched, these structures are less able to offer support, Drielsma explains, and the bigger your breasts, the more stress you're applying to them.
The answer, he says, is wearing a sports bra. It won't necessarily stop sagging altogether, as there are other causes such as weight loss, breastfeeding and pregnancy, "but it will help to minimise the process," he advises.
That might seem obvious, yet according to bra manufacturer Berlei, 43 per cent of women aren't aware that not wearing a sports bra while exercising can contribute to tissue damage. And while you might not be concerned about sagging right now, Drielsma says it's a common reason women seek his services.
Wearing the right bra doesn't just reduce the risk of saggy breasts, it can also minimise pain when exercising. Wakefield-Scurr's research revealed that medication to reduce breast pain was only successful in 54 per cent of cases, while often causing side effects, yet sports bras were shown to be effective in reducing breast pain in 80 per cent of women.
With compelling reasons to pop on a sports bra before breaking into a sweat, the next question is which one to choose. After all, there are three main types of sports bras: compression (which flatten the breasts against the chest wall), encapsulation (which individually supports each breast without compressing it) and a combination of the two.
Wakefield-Scurr's research disproved the belief that compression bras are better for reducing movement in small-breasted women, with encapsulation bras better for those with larger breasts. Instead, she found that encapsulation bras are better at reducing breast movement in women of all cup sizes.
Even if you follow the experts' advice and wear an appropriate bra to pound the pavement, you may still experience breast pain or discomfort. If that happens, don't abandon your exercise plans. Wakefield-Scurr suggests trying a water activity such as swimming or aqua aerobics "because the buoyancy of the water provides some support to the breast".
And if you're among the 40 per cent of Aussie women who don't wear a sports bra to work out, it's time for a rethink. After all, we've cottoned on to the need to choose appropriate footwear when we work out (you wouldn't run a marathon in high heels, would you?). It's now time to offer the same kind of support to our breasts.
This article appears in Sunday Life magazine within the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age on sale October 21.
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