Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
April 8, 2012

Bicycle Seats and Numbness in Male and Female Cyclists

Several studies have shown that male bicycle riders can
become impotent from pressing their genitals against a bicycle
seat. A study from Yale showed that compression from a bicycle
seat can cause loss of feeling in a woman's genitals (J Sex Med
2006;3:1018-1027). Now, a new study from Yale shows that the lower
a woman sets her handlebars, the more she bends forward and the
harder she presses her genitals against the bicycle seat to cause
this loss of genital feeling (J Sex Med, published online March 5,
2012).
Women who suffer the most genital numbness set their
handlebars below the height of their seats. Riders set their
handlebars low to lower their bodies so they can go faster. More
than 60 percent of the force you press on your pedals is lost by
the air resistance against you and your bike. So, to go faster,
you make yourself lower and narrower.
Most bicycle seats have a round back portion to support
your buttocks and a narrow nose in the front. While genital
discomfort during long rides is very common among bicycle riders,
it is uncommon in professional bicycle racers. Experienced
bicycle racers know how to choose and adjust their seats to
prevent discomfort when they ride. They usually:
* set the nose level with, or slightly higher than, the back
of the seat,
* adjust the height of their seat post so that they never
straighten their knees during pedaling, and
* chose a seat with just enough padding to prevent discomfort and
width to support their buttocks.
Noseless bicycle seats cause little or no genital
discomfort, but racers cannot use noseless seats because they need
to press on the nose with their inner thighs to control the bike.
A noseless seat also forces riders to increase pressure on the
handlebars, increasing their susceptibility to hand numbness.