(SF)

By Jeanna Bryner

University of Portsmouth

Scientist Joanna Scurr takes notes as a participant runs on a treadmill. Eight sensors revealed the participant's breasts moved in a figure-8 pattern.

Scientist Joanna Scurr takes notes as a participant runs on a treadmill. Eight sensors revealed the participant's breasts moved in a figure-8 pattern.

Whether women are said to be flat-chested or big-busted, ordinary bras fall short when it comes to supporting bouncing breasts, a new study claims.

The study also found that during exercise, women's breasts bounce more than previously estimated, moving a vertical distance of up to around eight inches (21 centimeters) compared with a past maximum measurement of six inches (16 centimeters).

The bouncing, in some cases with breasts weighing 20 pounds or more, can prove painful and damaging to the limited natural support system.

While brassieres have evolved throughout history from body-binding corsets to cleavage-enhancing "miracle" bras, only recently have researchers injected a dose of science into the design of undergarments that go beyond conferring a more "perky" look, the researcher says.

"It is only recently that bra design has turned to science," said study author Joanna Scurr, a biomechanics professor at the University of Portsmouth in England. "There was no research. It’s like designing a car or kitchen equipment without first thinking 'what is the purpose of this?'"

Scurr will present her research this week at an annual meeting for the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences in Bath.

Breast biomechanics

Scurr recruited 70 women, including students and faculty from the University of Portsmouth, with bra sizes ranging from A-cup to extra-large (DD, E, FF, G, H, HH, J and JJ were included).

Each woman walked, jogged and ran while wearing different bra types.

During the exercise, Scurr took biomechanical measurements, including the amount of breast movement in three directions: up-and-down, side-to-side and in-and-out.

During walking exercise, the women's breasts moved relatively the same amount in all directions.

But when participants sped up to a jog or run, their breasts moved proportionally more in some directions than others: More than 50 percent of the total movement was in the up-down direction, 22 percent side-to-side and 27 percent in-and-out.

The overall pattern of the movement resembled a figure-8.

Bra basics

Typically, bras are designed to minimize up-and-down motion and not the other two dimensions of breast movement found in Scurr's study.

For all cup sizes, the so-called encapsulation bras in which each cup is separately molded provided the most support, beating out the compression bras, which limit only the up-and-down motion. The encapsulation bras limit some of the movement in the other directions as well.

In A-cup women, wearing a sports bra reduced overall breast movement by 53 percent, compared with a 55-percent reduction for G-cup women.

Smart support

A pair of D-cup breasts weighs about 15 to 23 pounds (7 to 10 kilograms).

But breasts have little natural support, Scurr says, although ligaments and the skin are thought to do most or all of the work.

Breasts are made up of fat, milk ducts and connective tissues, such as collagen, ligaments and blood vessels.

The momentum created by intense bouncing can stretch the breast's connective tissues, causing sagging and pain for many women.

An estimated 50 percent of women experience breast pain during exercise, Scurr claims.

Without appropriate bra support, some women abandon active sports due to breast pain, Scurr said.

"There really are women who want to do exercise but who don’t have the bras to cope," Scurr said. "I know of a 16-year-old who was selected to play basketball for the county, but she was told to give it up because she couldn’t find a bra that made playing possible."

Scurr is working with major bra manufacturers in Britain and globally to design a bra that minimizes breast movement in all three dimensions.

The next bra, she hopes, will incorporate "smart materials" that can change to provide custom-made support for each woman and her activity level.

__________________
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Clever? Nah, I ran out of that years ago. But if you find this, let me know, k?
"The road goes ever on..." ~ Tolkien

In memory of my friend skip...
Go then, there are other worlds than these

Where can I go to conduct a study like this? Can you imagine that? "The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not a regular bra offers the required support for a big-busted woman when she's participating in an activity that causes her boobs to bounce."

Study Group A please proceed to the treadmill.

Group B can take their place on the exercise bikes.

Group C can climb up onto the trampolines.

__________________
Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

How did I know there'd be a comment from WI on this thread?! I must be psychic!

Not sure they needed a study to say that breasts bounce and sports bras are crap. They should've just asked me.

Hell, they should have just watched me!

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Fruit flies like a banana"

M Y - N A U G H T Y - P I C T U R E S ! !

Our subsidiary test regime has elements in that ^^^ direction.

As there are distance issues, sequential photos are required for meaningful scrutiny.

<<Translated as "Show us your tits">>

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

I have just returned from the full length mirror in the bedroom, where I WAS staring at my A/b cups with a touch of regret.
Now, all I can think is HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!



Seriously, I noticed the figure 8 movement the first time I was in the missionary position in a bed that had a mirror on the ceiling. It was fascinating to watch my boobs do their little dance as I was being fucked.

But as a sports bra wearer for running and such, I doubt the 53 vs 55 percent comparison between A cups and G cups. My doubt comes from watching women with large chests run, then looking at my own. There has to be more than a 2 percent difference, or am I reading this wrong?



WW

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"I wondered, am I a lesbian, am I straight, or bisexual? Then I realized that I am just a slut.
So where's MY parade?"

---Margaret Cho

/me graciously offers to include WW in Study Group D.

__________________
Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

I'd like to have a job description that includes weighing breasts.

__________________
Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.

Click Here

__________________
Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.

HAHAHA WI!!!

I'd like to volunteer to see if I can make WW's do reverse figure 8's!

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My Only Two Stories Anywhere!

Afternoon Delight

Delightful Rendezvous!

Is the love I gave her in the past, gonna be enough to last, if tomorrow never comes........

I've been offering my services as a living bra for years, to no avail...

__________________
Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.