Bicycle seats linked to impotence
Sunday May 31 9:54 PM EDT
By ED SUSMAN UPI Science News
SAN DIEGO, May 31 (UPI) - Boston University researchers say that narrow, hard bicycle seats can cause impotence in men and sexual and urinary problems in women.
In the first study comparing bicyclists to other athletes, the researchers find the incidence of impotence to be four times higher in the bicyclists than in a similar group of runners; women bicyclists reported higher incidence of clitoris dysfunction compared to female runners.
The data was presented today at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in San Diego.
Dr. Irwin Goldstein, professor of urology at Boston University School of Medicine, says that while just 4 percent of men report impotence that can be attributed to their bicycle riding, there are 20 million recreation bicyclists.
Goldstein, who has been researching bicycle-related impotence for four years, says, ''That means as many as 500,000 men are being made impotent from bicycle seats.''
Dr. Anthony Atala of Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, says, ''Dr. Goldstein's group may certainly be on to something with their studies. Their data does suggest there may be a connection between bicycle seats and impotence and other injuries.''
Goldstein and colleagues have demonstrated how rigid, narrow seats often used by long distance and competitive cyclists put pressure on blood vessels and nerves in the perineum (the area between the anus and vulva in women; between the anus and scrotum in men).
He said, ''With increasing levels of bicycle riding exposure, males were found to have significantly more urologic complaints, including moderate to severe impotence, difficulty achieving orgasm, changes in ejaculatory sensation, difficulty urinating, chronic numbness and pain.''
Women also reported difficulty in achieving orgasm, difficulty urinating, clitoral numbness or pain.
Copyright 1998 by United Press International. |
