Breast Impact Discomfort Reduced with Customised Breast Protection for Amateur Female Soccer and Rugby League Players in New Zealand

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to survey amateur female domestic soccer and rugby league players on their sports bra use, to compare prior use of sports bra to wearing a custom fitted sports bra with polymer inserts over a competition season in New Zealand, and to compare breast injuries with different sports bra utilization over a competition season. METHODS: Players were invited to participate in a baseline survey of sports bra use. Players who completed the survey were provided with the opportunity to wear a sports protection bra and inserts and to complete post-match surveys reporting any breast injuries. The study duration was one competition season in 2023. RESULTS: 93 players (41 soccer open, 29 soccer U16, 23 league) completed the baseline survey. Of these 79 players (32 soccer open, 24 soccer U16, 23 league) utilised the sports breast protector during the season. There were 25 breast injuries over the study resulting in a pooled breast injury incidence of 41.3 (95% CI: 26.7 to 61.1) per 1,000 match-hrs. Eight of 25 injuries (32%) occurred to players wearing the sports protection bra (i.e., 5/79 =10% sports breast protector players; 9/14 = 64% other players; 14/93 = 15% all players). Of the 34 participants who reported a previous breast injury, there were 2.6 ±1.4 breast injuries per player in the previous year and, more than a third (37.5%) reported either wearing a padded bra or did not use strategies to prevent breast injuries. CONCLUSION: It is important that players, coaches, and team medical support associated with female sports are educated on the injury risk to breasts in training and competition enabling these players to be encouraged to report and seek treatment if necessary.