What a heavy lift.
Women with larger breasts are all too familiar with the backaches and neck pain that can come with a bigger set of ta-tas.
But a new study published today links having disproportionately big breasts with an unexpected health issue — that, on its surface, isn’t connected to the chest at all.
“Many people think of enlarged breast tissue primarily as a cosmetic issue, but our findings suggest it may be associated with a broader range of women’s health concerns,” lead study author Kristyn Pocock said in a press release.
The researchers specifically looked at macromastia, a medical condition involving abnormally large breasts. In this case, “abnormally large” refers to breast size disproportionately larger that the person’s frame. There is no specific cup size.
Looking at the health records of 687 women treated at headache and neurology clinics, the researchers found that women with enlarged breast tissue were twice as likely to experience neck pain and more than twice as likely to have cervical radiculopathy, or a pinched nerve in the neck.
Larger boobs affected the women’s sleep as well, with almost 50% of women with macromastia more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea, when the throat muscles relax and block the airway repeatedly during sleep.
But to any woman weighed down by a larger chest, those won’t seem surprising.
What may be more unexpected was that women with macromastia were about 40% more likely to have chronic migraine than women without the condition.
While insurance companies recognize that headaches are associated with the condition, little else is known about how larger breasts could be linked to neurological conditions.
“By better understanding these connections, we can help ensure women receive more comprehensive evaluations and care for symptoms that may affect their daily lives,” Pocock said.
Many women may also seek out breast reduction surgery as a way to relieve macromastia symptoms.
However, when the researchers looked into what factors women take into consideration when deciding whether or not to have surgery, neck pain was the only condition more likely to result in breast reduction operations.
While macromastia is common, it’s sister condition gigantomastia, is rare and results in breasts that are excessively large.
Only about 300 cases of gigantomastia have been documented around the globe.
Medication can slow the growth, but many patients require surgery, with some doctors recommending a full mastectomy in severe or recurring cases.
It may also be linked to puberty, pregnancy, medications, obesity, autoimmune disorders or even hormonal imbalances.
Along with pain and poor posture, symptoms can include numbness in the nipples, infections or lesions under the breasts, and psychological struggles like anxiety, depression and body-image issues.
While the initial findings shed more light on the rare condition and how it affects women, more research is needed to figure out how the condition influences neck pain, migraines and sleep apnea, and whether treatment could help symptoms.
