Excessive breast motion impacts female athletes by increasing exercise-induced breast pain. Breast pain may not only be a barrier to rider participation, but also impact horse-rider interactions resulting in conflicting cues to the horse.
Researchers Burbage, Cameron and Goater of the University of Portsmouth (GBR) carried out the first study to quantify breast motion and breast pain in female riders. Both were significantly reduced when appropriate breast support is used.
The female breast has limited intrinsic support and repeated loading on the delicate supporting structures due to excessive breast motion can result in breast pain. Recently it has been reported that female horse riders describe exercise-induced breast pain whilst horse riding, constituting an important barrier to participation. This may result in a negative impact on rider-horse interactions through the application of inadvertent pain-induced cues.
Despite previous research in non-equestrian sports advocating the use of a sports bra to reduce breast motion and pain in athletes, research suggests sports bra use in this population is low. There has been no research detailing breast biomechanics in female horse riders where, unlike other sports, body movements are dictated in response to large excursions of the horse in various gaits, which may cause breast motion unique to female riders.
The Study on Breast Motion and Pain
To improve understanding of breast motion and pain during horse riding, twelve female horse riders fitted as a UK bra size 32DD or 34DD performed a 1 minute walk, medium trot (sitting) and canter on a dressage simulator (Racewood, UK) in three breast support conditions: (a) no bra, (b) daily bra and (c) sports bra. After calibration, each participant was filmed with a 50 Hz camera placed directly in front of the simulator at rider height; markers placed on the sternal notch and left and right nipple (or on the bra over the nipple) enabled relative vertical breast displacement data (mm) to be calculated in Quintic software.
Participants rated breast pain after each support condition and pace on a 10 cm Visual Analogue Scale. Vertical breast displacement was significantly different across paces and support conditions. Mean unsupported vertical breast displacement was highest during medium trot; post-hoc analysis revealed vertical breast displacement was significantly reduced in a sports bra compared to the daily bra at this pace. Tests found breast pain to be significantly reduced in a sports bra compared to the daily bra during the canter and trot.
Conclusion
Results from this study may be used to develop bras specific to equestrian sports and to educate female riders on appropriate breast support. Breast pain caused by wearing inappropriate breast support may prove to be detrimental to horse-rider interaction, causing inadvertent cues to be applied to the horse and warrants further investigation.
Source: ISES
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