Touring Bikes

Study Shows New Bicycle Seat Design Can Reduce Genital Injuries To Men

In an article recently published on PubMed, researchers Schrader SM, Breitenstein MJ, Lowe BD, prove what most men who ride bicycles already know - riding for long periods of time with a traditional "saddle" seat hurts. And not only that, doing it often can cause sometimes serious medical problems.

The problem is all due to the way the male anatomy works, compared with how saddle seats work. Men, and to a certain extent women, have a bundle of nerves and blood vessels that come down from the area around the backbone and then lead to the sex organs. The problem is, when a person sits on a bicycle saddle, those nerves and blood vessels make contact with the saddle before the bones that surround them, which means they get pushed and squeezed. This damages them and eventually the organs they are supposed to feed.

The researchers in the study took a very simple approach. They constructed a new test saddle that was both sleeker than normal and had a ditch in it running from front to back. The purpose was to force the pressure from above, due to weight, to be on the bones that support the pelvis rather than on the areas where the nerves and blood vessels lie.

Using a group of police officers who ride bikes on their patrol as test subjects, the researchers found, by testing them before and then again after an extended period of ridership (six months), that there was significant increase in tactile penile sensation, improvements in erectile function and " - the number of men indicating they had not experienced urogential paresthesia while cycling for the preceding 6 months, rose from 27% to 82%..." Urogential paresthesia is a condition whereby the urinary tract and the areas around it experience tingling or burning sensations usually accompanied by numbness.

Thus, the study confirms what most male bicycle riders have long suspected - bicycle seats are designed by people that have no interest in comfort or safety but, instead, go with what they believe either looks good or appears to be more aerodynamic. What's truly interesting about the study is that it was needed to be undertaken in the first place. Men have been complaining about bicycle seats for as long as saddle seats have been around. Why have bicycle makers been turning a deaf ear? It's hard to say without perhaps another study being undertaken, but the fact remains, bicycle seats, like a host of other products on the market, can be made better, and they only will be when consumers, in this case bicycle riders, demand it.