oddlight

Rise of the Smart Bra

Women could soon be wearing bras embedded with electronics and capable of changing shape to provide better support after a study found conventional undergarments were seriously failing them.

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth in Britain studied the movement of women's breasts during a range of activities, including running and jogging, and found bra designers had underestimated the pressures they were subjected to.

They also found breast pain due to exercise was not just restricted to large-breasted women, with many A-cup women forced to restrict their sporting activities due to underperforming bras.

Researcher Dr Joanna Scurr said scientific principles needed to applied to bras to improve their design.

``It is only recently that bra design has turned to science,'' she said in a statement.

``There was no research.

``It's like designing a car or kitchen equipment without first thinking `what is the purpose of this?'

``We need to think why do we need bras? What do we need them to do?''

To look at the relationship between breasts and undergarments, Scurr signed up 70 women with breast sizes ranging from A to JJ and studied them over two years.

Participants were asked to undertake a range of activities including walking, jogging and running while biomechanical measurements were made of their bodies.

While it was previously accepted the maximum bounce for a breast during exercise was 16 cm, Scurr's study found breasts could move up to 21 cm, proving conventional bras were woefully inadequate.

Scurr also found that breasts move as much during slow jogging as they do at maximum sprint speed.

``This makes wearing a sports bra as important if you jog slowly as if you sprint,'' she said.

``There really are women who want to do exercise but who don't have the bras to cope.''

It was estimated 50 per cent of women experienced breast pain during exercise, including many smaller-breasted women.

This was, in part, because breasts have very limited natural support.

The research found brought into question the previously held belief that compression bras are better for reducing movement in smaller-breasted women and encapsulation bras better for larger-breasted women.

Scurr found instead that encapsulation bars are better at reducing breast movement in women of all cup sizes.

She hopes to use the data from her study to design new generation bras that would offer more support and take into account true movement levels.

One option would be to use smart fabric - cloth embedded with sensors, actuators and electronics.

When a smart bra sensed additional stresses being applied to a woman's breasts it could respond by offering greater support.

``We are building up a database on breast biomechanics which we believe is the largest in the world,'' Scurr said.

``This information could be used to inform bra design, for clinical support, fundamental breast health research and to broaden understanding in this important area.''

.. from smh