Janey Frawley: recommended link
The Brassiere: Health problems
Many of the statements about the benefits of bras are actually situations where they can make things worse, because the vast majority of women wear bras that are ill-fitting. For instance, rather than keeping the breasts away from the chest wall, bras that are too tight can actually compress them against the chest even further. This also pulls the upper thoracic and cervical vertebrae (spine) forward and down, interfering with back, shoulder and chest movement.
As they did with corsets, health professionals have also had concerns about the constricting effects of brassieres, although this varies considerably with design and the relative size of the bra and the breast. While at least sports bras do not usually cause any significant impairment in respiration, some bras may put pressure on nerves. Others believe that wearing a bra can actually increase the downward movement of the breasts with age, because the chest muscles (pectoralis) that support breasts are used less and atrophy from lack of use.
Myalgia
Use of a properly fitting bra is regularly recommended for reduction of mastalgia (breast pain) from exercise or other activities which cause the breasts to bounce, or for pain related to fibrocystic breast disease. A trial comparing the effectiveness of danazole versus use of a sports bra for treatment of mastalgia found the sports bra to be much more effective, and avoided the side effects experienced by 42% of those taking danazole. Sports bras were also found most effective at reducing mastalgia caused by exercise.
When the shoulder straps transfer most of the weight of the breast, a deep groove can be seen over the shoulder. Use of thin straps, such as spaghetti straps, can exert pressure on the trapezius muscle, resulting in temporary symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain; numbness and tingling in the arm; and headaches.
This seems more common in women whose activities require them to lift their arms above the shoulders. In a study of 100 women with painful shoulders, they were asked to not wear their bras for two weeks, by which time their symptoms had improved - but returned within an hour of replacing the bra. Eighty four pervcent did not elevate their arms, and in these symptom relief was complete. Three years later, 79% of the women were still bra free; the remainder preferred pain to not wearing a bra. 16% worked in occupations requiring elevating their arms, and only achieved partial improvement. 13 of the 16 decided to become bra-free, and by six months all were cured.
Massive hooters and insufficient support
Back pain is particularly common among large-breasted women who wear bras offering insufficient support. In extreme cases, such discomfort can lead to a woman seeking breast reduction surgery. In a study of 103 women seeking breast-reduction surgery (reduction mammaplasty) for pain, one woman never wore a bra, but of the remaining 102 all were wearing an incorrect bra size: the underband was too tight, the cup size too large. Also, the larger the woman, the worse the fit. The result was a bra that compresses the breast and distorts it by compressing the breast against the skin of the chest wall.
Based on the their research, many physicians believe that bra size is meaningless, when breast volumes are calculated accurately. "The current popular system of determining bra size is inaccurate so often as to be useless. Add to this the many different styles of bras and the lack of standardization between brands, and one can see why finding a comfortable, well-fitting bra is more a matter of educated guesswork, trial, and error than of precise measurements."
Copyright: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on Brassiere.