Transcript
SPEAKER 1
Boobs move in different ways, as we were just hearing, depending on what sport you do, depending on how big you are. Jo, I mean it’s a vast, vast range.
SPEAKER 2
Absolutely. We see breast movement differs depending on the activity that you’re doing. So, for example, during running, we know from our research that the breasts move in a figure of eight pattern during running. And so the design of a run bra-- of a bra for running-- is to prevent that figure of eight movement. We know during other types of sports, so for example, Hinda was referring to tennis earlier. So we have a lot more upper body rotation occurring. So sports bras for that type of activity would prevent that lateral movement of the breast.
SPEAKER 3
And for Goldie, I mean, she is she is twisting, throwing the javelin. There’s an extension there as well, which is possibly why it has to be personally designed for her and her sport and to enhance a performance, that’s what ended up happening.
SPEAKER 2
Absolutely. And if you look at the shoulder straps, for example-- so in Goldie’s situation, there’s a lot of arm movement occurring on both sides, I guess. And so the design of the shoulder straps is very important to allow that arm movement to occur, that range of motion in the shoulder.
SPEAKER 1
And she’s had back issues as well, so the bra also supports that?
SPEAKER 2:
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER 1
The London Marathon coming up on Sunday, of course, and you might well think, well marathon runners don’t tend to have boobs. And maybe at the top level, they’re not so well endowed in that sense. So why is it still important to wear a sports bra?
SPEAKER 2
We did a study in the 2012 London Marathon, and we surveyed 1,500 women who were running the London Marathon and found that a third of those women experience breast pain. And that breast pain was severe enough to affect their training routine. So we know that breast pain is a real problem.
SPEAKER 1
Wait a minute. We’re talking about breast pain caused by movement? Causing muscular pain or--
SPEAKER 2
Well, there’s a number of different types of breast pain. So one of them can be caused by movement, but there’s also breast pain that’s thought to be hormonally affected, so related to your menstrual cycle. So you could be in a situation where you’ve almost got a double whammy. So you’re at the time point in your cycle where you might be experiencing breast pain, and then you’ve got to go and do a training run and you’ve got the movement of the breast also causing pain. So you can see how breast pain might actually then become a barrier to women exercising.