Now Women Are Getting "Cyclist's Penis" Too

AUSTRALIA - Last year, ABC South East reported on the concerning phenomenon known as "cyclist's penis". The condition diminishes the erectile function and genital sensation of some men who spend too much time on the bike. New research has uncovered similar symptoms amongst female riders – though a suitable nickname is yet to be coined.
The man behind both these discoveries is Steve Schrader, who recently published his latest findings in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Schrader says gynaecologists used lightly vibrating probes to stimulate the female genitals and participants measured the sensations they felt.
"Strange as it might sound, it's kind of like a hearing test," he says. "When you're doing a hearing test it's like 'Did I hear that? Did I not hear that?' This vibratory sensation is 'Did I feel something or not?'"
The study compared women who cycle with women who run for exercise instead. The findings for cycling women are just as worrying as in his earlier study of their male counterparts.
"It took more stimulus for them to fell the vibration compared to the women who were runners."
Like in men, Schrader says the problem is caused by the nose of the bike seat. The nose can allow a rider to place as much as 35 per cent of their body weight on a part of the body that carries blood and nerves to the genitals. That proved, in some, to be too much strain and pressure for a part of the body not built to bear weight.
"From what we know now, and this is the first real study that has looked at this, I would recommend a no-nose saddle."
Such seats are hard to come by - and Schrader says his research is funded by the United States Government, not a company pushing such a product. But he warns that seats with a cut-out or scoop in the middle are no substitute.
"The problem is that the cut-out aligns the pressure right where these blood-vessels are nerves are. There's data out of Europe that suggests that they put more pressure there than without a cut-out.
"No nose saddles take the pressure away from their completely."
from ABC Austraia