Sports Bra and Breast Health

Dr. Rizzone first got interested  in this topic while talking with friends at a sports conference (friends who became her research collaborators). They realized that although girls and women made up half of all athletes in the United States, there was little to no research on sports bras. More importantly, the majority of the research published was on a very narrow population of women. Her research started with characterizing basic descriptive data on girls’ and women’s preferences in sports bra components. She has since begun collaborating with labs around the world examining aspects of sports bras such as 3D motion of the breasts, appropriate bra fit, fatigue breakage point of components of bras (strap, band, cup) and others. Her partnership with URM Fitness Science has led to bra fittings for athletes in the Central New York area.