Boy, talk about counter intuitive!
"Wearing a bra does more harm than good - it does nothing to reduce back pain and weakens the muscles that hold up the breasts, resulting in greater breast sagging, Jean-Denis Rouillon, a sports science expert from the University of Besançon, France, reported after a 15-year study.
Rouillon says that the main conclusion from the preliminary results of his "marathon experiment" is that the bra is a false necessity.
In an interview with France Info (radio), Professor Rouillon said:
"Medically, physiologically, anatomically - breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra."
Prof. Rouillon used a slide rule and a caliper (a device used to measure the distance between two opposite sides of an object) to carefully measure changes in breast features of hundreds of women over a 15-year period at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Besançon.
All his volunteers were between 18 and 35 years old. Rouillon emphasized that although his study spanned many years and included hundreds of women, he in no way claims his sample population is representative of the global population of women.
Rouillon found that women who never wore bras had nipples on average seven millimeters higher in relation to their shoulders each year than regular bra users.
In an interview with France Info, a 28-year old female called Capucine says she swears by Rouillon's findings."
In Jr high School they used the pencil test. If a pencil placed under the breast stayed there from breast pressure, you needed a bra. Girls at my school all developed at different rates and times. So do we.
