Tuesday, August 12, 2008

No-nose bicycle saddles improve penile sensation and erectile function in bicycling police officers

An innovative study appearing in the August issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine examined, for the first time, if noseless bicycle saddles would be an effective intervention for alleviating deleterious health effects, erectile dysfunction and groin numbness, caused by bicycling on the traditional saddle with a protruding nose extension. Results from this study may be useful for the estimated 5 million recreational cyclists to alleviate perineal discomfort and maintain sexual health. Ninety bicycling police officers from 5 metropolitan regions in the U.S. (Northwest, Southern, Desert West, Midwest, and Southeast) using traditional saddles were evaluated prior to changing saddles and then again after 6 months of using the noseless bicycle saddle. The findings show that use of the noseless saddle resulted in a reduction in saddle contact pressure in the perineal region. There was a significant improvement in penile tactile sensation, and the number of men indicating they had not experienced genital numbness while cycling for the preceding 6 months rose from 27 percent to 82 percent using no-nose saddles. Use of the noseless saddle also resulted in significant increases in erectile function as assessed by the initial evaluation, but there were no significant changes noted in Rigiscan® measures, a method used to record penile rigidity while the subject sleeps. With few exceptions, bicycle police officers were able to effectively use no-nose saddles in their police work and 97 percent of officers completing the study continued to use the no-nose saddle afterward. Full Story... I want a follow-up study and then maybe a new bicycle saddle :/

1 comment:

pimp-a-lot bear said...

interesting story. It made me wonder:
How does this effect the dutch male population? How come they succeeded in reproducing themselves?

Anyway, I think I'll still prefer my regular saddle: I think it's harder to sit on it.