How did you get your first sports bra?
If you were lucky, maybe someone you trusted brought up the conversation of breast health and proper bra fit. Or maybe you just rummaged through your older sister’s underwear draw until you found a sports bra she wouldn’t miss (Hi. It’s me. I’m the problem, it’s me). Maybe you whispered about breasts and bras with your best friend, each swapping unverified information you picked up here and there.
As confusing as breast health and puberty can be, when surveyed, girls are very clear about their concerns.
A study of more than 2000 girls ages 11-17 found that three-quarters of the girls surveyed had at least one breast related concern as it relates to sports, with breast bounce being the biggest concern.1
While girls’ concerns about breasts are plentiful, access to needed equipment to accommodate girls’ changing bodies may not be.
Only 10% of the surveyed girls reported they always wore a sports bra and 50% reported they never wore a sports bra. Reasons for this may include lack of breast health education, discomfort discussing puberty with adults, and inability to afford sports bras financially.
More, a third of girls in the study reported embarrassment about changing in front of their peers because of their breasts or bra.
It’s no wonder that girls begin dropping out of sport around the onset of puberty, a trend not seen in boys.1
By leaving sport, girls are missing out on more than just physical activity.
Highly involved athletes are more likely to report good grades, aspire to graduate college, and less apt to get into trouble at school than non-athletes.2
Highly involved athletes have lower rates of depressive affect, lower levels of self-derogation, and higher levels of self-esteem when compared to students involved with other extracurricular activities.2
Youth athletes also gain valuable leadership and communication skills through sport they can depend on for the rest of their lives.2
It’s this limited knowledge of female-specific health that places girls at greater risk of injury and can hinder sport performance. 3
Bras for Girls has set out to be part of the solution.
Bras for Girls provides free sports bras to girls in need, as well as breast health education. Bras for Girls has provided more than 38,000 girls with sports bras, and counting.
Giving the simple intervention of a sports bra can change the trajectory of a girl’s relationship with body movement for her whole life, the organization points out on their website.
A well-fitting sports bra not only keeps girls in sport, it improves performance.
A sports bra reduces vertical breast displacement (i.e. bounce) by 43% while running, getting right to the biggest concern of girls surveyed.4 Sports bras can eliminate breast pain and reduce the self-consciousness that limits girls’ participation.
But that’s not all.
Greater breast support is also associated with reduced oxygen consumption and increased running economy.5
Girls who are properly outfitted not only have a greater chance of staying in sport, they also have a greater chance of performing well.
Access to sports bras and breast health education is a crucial way to empower girls to become not only confident, capable athletes, but complete people.
Now that’s support.
- Scurr J, Brown N, Smith J, Brasher A, Risius D, Marczyk A. The Influence of the Breast on Sport and Exercise Participation in School Girls in the United Kingdom. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2016;58(2):167-173. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.10.005
- Veliz, P., Snyder, M., & Sabo, D. (2019). The State of High School Sports in America: An Evaluation of the Nation’s Most Popular Extracurricular Activity. New York, NY: Women’s Sports Foundation.
- Women’s Sports Foundation Annual Report, 2020
- Juliane Cristina Leme, Luiza dos Santos Banks, Yasmim Barbosa dos Reis, Jefferson Rosa Cardoso, Mario Hebling Campos, Paulo Roberto Pereira Santiago, Felipe Arruda Moura, Sports bra but not sports footwear decreases breast movement during walking and running, Journal of Biomechanics, Volume 111, 2020, 110014, ISSN 0021-9290, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2020.110014.
- Fong HB and Powell DW (2022) Greater Breast Support Is Associated With Reduced Oxygen Consumption and Greater Running Economy During a Treadmill Running Task. Front. Sports Act. Living 4:902276. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2022.902276).
Dr. Katie Noble, PT, DPT, SCS 