A study in 2008 found that 80 percent of women wear sized bras incorrectly. Seventy percent wore bras that were too small, 10 percent wore bras that were too large.
Do you know that wearing a wrong sized bra can lead to shoulder, chest, neck, and spine pain, along with headaches?
The under band should fit your ribcage firmly and shouldn’t be sliding or moving with activity. Eighty percent of the support should come from the under band and 20 percent from the shoulder straps.
The shoulder straps shouldn’t be so tight until they dig into your shoulders or leave imprints. If the straps are too tight, they may cause additional pressure that can lead to neck or shoulder pain and headaches.
A wrong cup size can cause the centre part of the bra floating up and not lying flat with your body.
Breasts should fit comfortably in your bra, both in the cup and on the sides. Too tight a cup size can cause your breasts to spill out.
What are the possible consequences of wearing the wrong size bra?
Breast Pain
If your bra is too small, it can dig into your breasts. If it is too big, your breasts may have too much space to bounce around, contributing to tenderness.
Shoulder & neck pain
A tight shoulder strap might cause extra pressure to your muscles and cause you shoulder and neck discomfort. You may even experience some headaches with this tensed shoulder and neck muscles.
Back pain
Bras designed for larger breasts often come with larger straps to disperse weight and provide more support. If your breasts aren’t properly supported by your bra, you might develop a bad posture which will put you in back pain eventually.
Bad posture
Several of the pains mentioned — breast, back, shoulder, and neck pain may make a person hunch forward, develop bad posture to alleviate the pain. Bad posture may further exacerbate your back, shoulder, or neck pain, creating a vicious cycle.
If you’ve been fitted for a bra, but still experience these symptoms, we recommend seeing a physiotherapist as they will determine the root cause of your condition and treat you accordingly.
The writer is a chiropractor at Chiropractic & Physiotherapy Health Centre