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Your Health and Bike Seats
Single platform bicycle seats damage the health of male
cyclists by creating
destructive pressure points. The result is penile numbness,
irritation of
the urethra, damage to the internal pudendal artery
and potential impotency,
the development of cysts on the tailbone and unhealthy
pressure on the
prostate.
Single platform bicycle seats damage the health of
female cyclists by
inhibiting air circulation. They contribute to he
growth of yeasts and
irritate the vulvar region, which can become an acute
problem for women who
have vulvodynia and/or contact vulvitis.
The SPONGY WONDER BIKE SEAT ends all of these problems.
 
The front end of the Spongy Wonder Bike Seats" frame gives as much or more front to rear adjustment than a conventional bike seat does but without the nose is actually 4 inches shorter than most conventional bike seats and so the front end of the frame does not present any hazard.
Health Extracts
Three articles published in the current issue of The Journal of
Sexual
Medicine concluded that the high pressures in the perineum while
straddling
a bike seat compress and temporarily occlude penile blood flow.
The three articles are:
Bike Riding and Erectile Dysfunction: An Increase in Interest.
by Huang
Only the Nose Knows: Penile Hemodynamic Study of the Perineum -
Saddle
Interface in Men with Erectile Dysfunction Utilizing Bike
Saddles and Seats
with and without Nose Extensions. by Munarriz et al
Development of a New Geometric Bike Saddle for the Maintenance
of
Genital-Perineal Vascular Perfusion. by Breda et al
New York Times / October 4, 2005m>
Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love
Life
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE
A raft of new studies add to earlier evidence that traditional
bicycle
seats, the kind with a narrow rear and pointy nose, play a role
in sexual
impotence.
Dr. Steven Schrader, a reproductive health at the National
Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, said that it was no longer a
question of
"whether or not bicycle riding on a saddle causes erectile
dysfunction. The
question is, What are we going to do about it?"
[READ MORE]
J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2005 Sep;45(3):409-18:
Effect of bike seat design on transcutaneous penile oxygen
pressure.
Cohen JD, Gross MT.
Program in Human Movement Science, Department of Allied Health
Sciences,
School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
NC.
AIM: To determine the reliability of monitoring penile transcutaneous oxygen
(tpO2) during cycling, and to assess the influence of Bike Seat
design and
cycling position on tpO2.
METHODS: Experimental design: repeated measures analysis of the
effects of
bicycle seat design and riding position on tpO2 values.
Participants: 31
male cyclists between the ages of 20 and 50 years. Subject
inclusion
criteria: averaged approx. 80 miles of road bicycling per week
during the 2
months prior to enrollment; no history of vascular disease,
diabetes, or
sexual dysfunction; and had an erection within 15 days prior to
study.
MEASURES: mean tpO2 values were calculated for seated and
standing positions
using 3 current bike seat designs.
RESULTS: Seat design had no significant effect on tpO2 values.
Seated
cycling significantly reduced tpO2 levels compared with standing
cycling.
Mean percent decreases in tpO2 from standing to seated cycling
were; Vetta
76%, Terry 73%, and Specialized 62%.
CONCLUSION: None of the bike seats exhibited any significant
ability to
spare penile tpO2.
Biking may be Hazardous to Your Health - Charles Downey
A 54-year-old Boston attorney figured that as an avid cyclist he
was in
great shape. But during a 200-mile, two-day charity event, he
noticed his
penis was numb, and for the next month, he had trouble getting,
and keeping
an erection.
He saw Dr. Irwin Goldstein, Professor of Urology at Boston U.
School of
Medicine, who suspected the problem was caused by riding a
narrow, hard bike
seat.
The human rear is perfectly designed to support the weight of
the body on
two "sit bones² and as long as you are sitting on a flat
surface, like a
chair or couch, your sit bones easily support your weight.
When a man sits on a narrow bike seat, his body weight can crush
the
pudendal artery and nerves that serve the penis. So bike riding
can result
in temporary and permanent impotence. Extra padding or gel
padding in the
seat does not help because the padding bunches up and also cuts
off
circulation.
Doctors at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and Case
Western
Reserve University in Cleveland studied 81 avid bike riders who
suffered
from ED. Their findings, published in the December 1999 issue of
the Journal
of Urology showed that nerves, arteries, and veins in the
perineum can
indeed be damaged by bike seats. Similar results were also seen
in a 2001
study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.
The research shows that riding with a conventional bike seat
typically
causes the amount of oxygen reaching the penis to fall 70
percent to 80
percent in three minutes. "A guy can sit on a bike seat and have
his penis
oxygen levels drop 100 percent but he doesn't know it. After
half an hour he
goes numb. Numbness is your body telling you something is
wrong."
Cutting Off the Nose to Save the Penis
Steven M. Schrader, PhD, Michael J. Breitenstein, BS, and Brian D. Lowe, PhD
Division of Applied Research and Technology, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Introduction. The average bicycle police officer spends 24 hours a week on his bicycle and previous studies have shown riding a bicycle with a traditional (nosed) bicycle saddle has been associated with urogenital paresthesia and sexual dysfunction. Aim.
The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the no-nose bicycle saddle as an ergonomic intervention and their acceptance among male bicycle police officers.
Methods. Bicycle police officers from five U.S. metropolitan areas were recruited for this study. Officers completed: (i) the International Index of Erectile Function Questionnaire (IIEF); (ii) computerized pressure measurements at the points of contact on the bicycle; the handlebars, the pedals, and the saddle; (iii) one night of nocturnal Rigiscan® assessment;
(iv) penile vibrotactile sensitivity threshold assessed by computerized biothesiometery.
Officers selected a no-nose bicycle saddle and were asked to use the intervention saddle exclusively for 6 months, at which point they were retested. Main Outcome Measures. Perineal pressure, urogenital numbness, penile vibrotactile sensitivity threshold, erectile function as measure by International Index of Erectile Function Questionnaire (IIEF) and Rigiscan.
Results.
After 6 months, 90 men were reassessed. Only three men had returned to a traditional saddle. The results are presented for those who used the no-nose bicycle saddle continuously for 6 months. There was a 66% reduction in saddle contact pressure in the perineal region. There was a significant improvement in penis tactile sensation. There was a significant improvement in erectile function assessed by IIEF. There were no changes noted in the Rigiscan® measures. The number of men indicating they had not experienced urogential paresthesia while cycling for the preceding 6 months, rose from 27% to 82% using no-nose bicycle saddles.
Conclusions. (i) With few exceptions, bicycle police officers were able to effectively use no-nose bicycle saddles in their police work. (ii) Use of no-nose bicycle saddles reduced most perineal pressure. (iii) Penile health improved after 6 month using no-nose bicycle saddles as measured by biothesiometry and IIEF. There was no improvement in Rigiscan® measure after
6 months of using no nose saddles.
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