Sports Bra Preferences by Age and Impact of Breast Size on Physical Activity among American Females

Katherine H. Rizzone, Bianca Edison, Nailah Coleman, Cordelia Carter, Ingrid Ichesco, Paige Cassidy, Jane Chung and Courtney Marie Cora Jones
Additional contact information
Katherine H. Rizzone: Department of Orthopaedics and Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14624, USA
Bianca Edison: Department of Orthopaedics, University of South California, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA
Nailah Coleman: Department of Pediatrics, Children’s National Hospital/George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
Cordelia Carter: Department of Orthopaedics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
Ingrid Ichesco: Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Paige Cassidy: Department of Medicine and Pediatrics, Spectrum Health/Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI 48197, USA
Jane Chung: Department of Orthopaedics and Pediatrics Frisco, Scottish Rite for Children, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75235, USA
Courtney Marie Cora Jones: Department of Orthopaedics and Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14624, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 23, 1-9

Abstract: For many females, sports bras are an essential piece of equipment for participation in sports and physical activity. Breast pain or discomfort from lack of support may be a contributing factor to the noted gender disparity in physical activity of females compared to males. Our objective was to evaluate sports bra usage and characterize sports bra preferences of an active female cohort. This multicenter cross-sectional survey study was conducted at five geographically distinct academic centers. Our measure was administered during outpatient sports medicine clinic visits to females aged 11–64 years old. Chi-square tests were used to compare characteristics across subgroups. Our analysis consisted of 438 respondents, with a mean age of 22 ± 12.2 years. More than a quarter (27.4%) reported lack of breast support prevented them from being active or exercising. Age ( p = 0.03), breast size ( p < 0.0001), and household income ( p = 0.01) were significantly associated with greater frequency of physical activity being limited by lack of breast support. Lack of breast support may be an important barrier for young females of specific populations to meeting physical activity recommendations. Further research is needed to improve the understanding of this important piece of sporting equipment for women.

Keywords: female athlete; sports bra; sporting equipment; physical activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12732/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12732/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12732-:d:693954

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().