The Sports Technology Institute is looking at a new way for breast movement to be measured – allowing for greater flexibility and comfort during exercise.
The technique involves painting the torso and the bra in dots that create a contrast between the dots and surface recorded. The individual dots are then captured as data points – allowing more specific movement information to be gathered. It's hoped this will then benefit athletes of all abilities - including those performing at this summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
The team is led by the Project Lead for Human Form Measurement at Loughborough University, Dr Rebecca Grant alongside PhD Doctoral Researcher in Breast Measurement, Lauren Holmes.
Dr Grant said: “Understanding what size sports bra to wear is quite difficult – especially if you’re getting involved in exercise for the first time. Within this project, we've been looking at developing new measurement methods to help us better understand breast motion - specifically the surface of the breast. This is so that we can help to better support those that are trying to get into exercise and ultimately help them pick the right bra size to allow them to engage in the way they want.
“Breasts move in different ways depending on your size, your age, and the sport that you're trying to do – so, it's about making the right choices for you. What we want to do in this project is to take it beyond the standard, static measurements in sizing and really get people to understand the issue that's happening dynamically.”
Lauren Holmes said: “At the Sports Technology Institute, we are really focused on the interface between engineering and performance in sport. We are trying to develop new methods that give us a greater resolution on the chest or any area of the body that fits into the field of view so that we can capture more information about the movement and find better answers.
“The ‘speckle process’ allows us to capture more information across a specific area than other methods. Alternative methods, although effective, are limited on the number of data points they can collect as they focus on motion tracking with a few points around the body. With this, you can see a much wider spectrum, but you can't get the detail that you might need on a specific surface.
“Overall, this helps athletes have a better understanding of how their body is moving whilst highlighting any discomfort that they might be experiencing when they're moving or potentially understanding if they're wearing the right size or not. This allows us to give them a better understanding of how to fit them better and how they can have more comfortable engagement in sport.”
"The data picked up from these studies currently allows academics to extract a range of information - from distance that the surface travels, to the velocity and acceleration of those points and strain across the surface as well. This information is then used to map out where on the chest is experiencing high loading that could be related to pain. This then helps to inform where appropriate support is needed in different areas.”
Dr Grant added: “We've been working very closely with adidas over the last decade on this area to help build these measurement systems to question what's right for the product, but also what's happening underneath so that we can consider the impacts for bra development over more sustainable timelines. It's about really understanding what's happening so that we create better support that has great longevity for people in sport.
“Everyone is different. Women, especially go through key phases of life - puberty and breast formation through adulthood. We've obviously got menstrual cycles - that causes volumetric change, but we also have the impacts of age and skin elasticity on that. Essentially, it's a mass movement and how the skin holds that, but also other things, from maternity, breastfeeding and breast injuries – to how much a person drinks!
“It's really difficult for us to monitor all of that so we have to be quite controlled in the studies that we do to make sure we can be confident in our results and the conclusions we make from the data.
“In the long run, I think all women will hugely benefit from this work – from those that are already engaged in sport and are just looking to find a better fit for them to those that aren't really engaged in exercise or sport right now and are looking for the best way to get involved. This ensures that it’s not a daunting process.”
