Cycling may be good for a woman’s health – but it is less so for her sex life. Women who spend a lot of time in the saddle can experience decreased genital sensation, a study by Yale has found.
Published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the paper found women whose handlebars are lower than the saddle were especially at risk, as the position results in increased pressure on the nerves and blood vessels surrounding the genitalia.
“Modifying bicycle setup may help alleviate neuropathies (nerve damage) in females,” the authors recommended.
The study involved 48 cyclists who rode at least 10 miles a week and measured genital sensation, perineal and total saddle pressures using specialised equipment.
Participants were asked to ride their own cycles whilst mounted on a stand, the New York Daily News reported. They were then asked if they had experience “soreness, tingling and other sensations” in their pelvic regions.
It builds on previous research by Yale published in 2006 that found female cyclists had less genital sensation than female runners.
In 2009 a paper published by Professor Diana Vaamonde, from the University of Cordoba Medical School, Spain, said male triathletes who did the most cycling training had the worst sperm morphology.
As Medical Daily points out, cycling has also been linked to numbness of genitalia and erectile dysfunction in males, especially if the handlebars to the bike are parallel or higher than the saddle
