Young Teen College Girl Without Brassiere

Some women experience breast pain (mastodynia or mastalgia), particularly when performing strenuous physical activity or exercise. A properly fitted bra reduces such pain and the sports bra has been specifically designed for this purpose. Sports bras which compress or encapsulate the breasts have been shown to be more effective than ordinary bras at reducing breast pain caused by exercise. However, the need for wearing a bra at all during exercise has been questioned after extensive studies on athletes.
Numerous websites and publications dealing with fibrocystic disease and breast pain state that a well-fitting bra is recommended for treatment of these conditions.
For fibrocystic disease there are no studies to support these statements. A 2006 clinical practice guideline stated, "The use of a well-fitting bra that provides good support should be considered for the relief of cyclical and noncyclical mastalgia." The study rated the statement as being supported by level II-3 evidence and as a grade B recommendation. However, this rests solely on two short, uncontrolled studies.
Regarding breast pain, a 1976 study of 114 women in the United Kingdom complaining of breast pain were professionally fitted with a special, custom-fitted bra. Twenty-six percent of women who completed the study and wore the bra properly experienced pain relief, 49% improved somewhat, 21% received no relief, and 4% experienced more pain. There were a lot of dropouts from the study. In a 2000 Saudi Arabia study, 200 women were randomly allocated to receive either (danazole), a synthetic steroid ethisterone whose off-label uses include management fibrocystic breast disease and breast pain, or a sports bra. Fifty-eight percent of the danazole group improved compared to 85% in the sports bra group. No details of what the women wore before the study was given. Neither study used an untreated control or implemented double-blind controls. Breast pain has a very high placebo response (85%) so a response to any intervention can be expected. It is not clear whether the interventions described can be generalized to a large population.