Over half of British women are not supporting their best assets during physical activity, according to a poll of 2,000 women by leading running specialist retailer, Sweatshop.
Alarmingly, the survey showed 57 per cent do not regularly wear a specific sports bra when exercising, despite the fact that the top two concerns for women are breast sag and pain.
Amanda Brasher, Head Sports Bra Buyer for Sweatshop, says: “If you take part in physical activity it is vital to wear a well fitting sports bra. 40 per cent of women polled experienced breast pain, yet research shows that a supportive sports bra can do more to eliminate this in the long term than painkillers.
“It is staggering that the majority of British women do not wear a sports bra when exercising.”
While 70 per cent of women in this study acknowledged a well fitting bra would prevent breast sag, a quarter admitted they are currently wearing a bra that does not fit properly.
One in ten women also admitted they do not know what size bra they should be wearing and one third say they have never been properly measured. The most common reason for this is that they are embarrassed about having a fitting.
Amanda adds: “These findings are not surprising and reinforce the reason why we have launched our specialist sports bra fitting service. It is vital to get measured, especially if you are active or play sport, as an ill-fitting bra can potentially cause long term breast damage.”
All Sweatshop stores in the UK now offer this free professional sports bra fitting service, which has been developed with the help of experts from the University of Portsmouth, the leading centre for research on breast health.
Are you lacking support? As part of its mission to ‘help women be the best they can be’, Sweatshop is running a ‘bra appeal’, which supports the MicroLoan Foundation, a charity helping women in Africa start their own small businesses. Customers will receive £5 off a new sports bra with Sweatshop donating £1 to the MicroLoan Foundation for every new sports bra sold during the campaign. They are also encouraged to leave any unwanted bras in bra bins, which are located in each Sweatshop store. These bras will then be sold for recycling, with all proceeds going to the MicroLoan Foundation.
Sportsister,
The Women’s Sports Magazine
