Women Cyclists Could Be Affected Too

It is almost common knowledge that some men who do a lot of cycling can suffer from erectile dysfunction as a result. The cause is due to the normal bike seat that places a lot of pressure on the part of the man’s body just behind the testes. This part of the body contains the penile artery that can get squashed with prolonged pressure and thus it is not able to supply blood to the penis at full capacity.

The problem was thought to be a man’s problem but some recent research has been done on whether the same thing could happen to women and cause them sexual dysfunction too.  It seems that Skip to next paragraphwhile women also suffer from a tingling sensation, pain and lowered genital sensitivity they did not suffer from lowered sexual function. The researchers therefore felt that women cyclists are less susceptible to sexual side-effects when compared to men cyclists.

The research that merited publication in the Sexual Medicine Journal examined almost 50 normal, healthy and pre-menopausal female cyclists who were very regular cyclists with at least 6 hours a week spent in the saddle. Another group consisting of 22 regular runners was used for a control group.

The scientists did think that because the same artery in men and women is located in the same place it was likely that bike riding would affect women in a similar way but the lead researcher Dr. Marsha Guess from Yale said that female cyclists have different anatomy that means less compression on the artery. Nevertheless it is possible that a longer-term study man show that there are some sexual side effects on women who cycle and the results of this research are not therefore conclusive.

Recently many bike manufacturers have been making bike seats that are designed to relive pressure on the penile artery so that men will not get erectile dysfunction with prolonged use. Women can use these seats too.