Biking: Taint a Good Idea
By JULIE FIEDLER
Updated 4:11 AM EST, Sat, Apr 25, 2009
For those of you who have climbed on a bike after a long absence, you may have noticed some painful rubbing in the groin area. For those of you who are frequent bikers, you probably haven’t. And that’s a problem.
A typical bike seat has a protruding “nose” that you rest your nethers on as you pedal along. These seats were designed to support the sit bones, however much of the pressure ends up impacting the tender testicular area on men.
“What’s wrong with that?” you may ask. Contrary to being pleasurable, the pressure can result in a loss of blood to the groin, which can cause numbing of the genitals and sexual dysfunction as well.
Men whose jobs had them on bikes 25 hours per week were found to complain of “groin numbness” more often than men who didn’t bike at all. Men who didn’t bike also had longer-lasting erections, according to a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
But you don’t have to give up your 10-speed just yet. Shorter “no-nose” seats have been found to reduce pressure by nearly two-thirds: from 2.9 psi to 1.02 psi.
When workers switched to the “no-nose” seats, only 18% complained of numbness in the butt and penis as compared with 73% on a traditional seat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Don’t be a numbnuts… Lose the long saddle and let your stuff hang free. It will make your ride smoother.
First Published: Apr 23, 2009 1:30 PM EST
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