Myth or medicine: Does cycling make men impotent?

Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.

The Greek physician Hippocrates wrote this about 400 BC about the ancient nomadic people of the Scythians. Whether he was right is not known in detail. But until today people fear that their mode of locomotion affects the potency. Horses hardly play a role, instead, there is the concern that cycling could lead to erectile dysfunction.

The first scientifically documented case report comes from the year 1987. Accordingly, a 55-year-old trained twelve minutes daily on his exercise bike. After about two years, during training, he occasionally felt a tightness around the head of his penis, which disappeared after a few minutes. In addition, his erection developed slower and was harder to hold.

When he extended the training to 20 minutes, the problems worsened almost to the point of complete impotence, doctors reported at the time in the journal "Postgraduate Medicine". Only after the man had renounced cycling for a month, the complaints disappeared again.

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Impotence after 500 kilometer race

However, in the decades that followed, studies on cycling potency problems produced conflicting results. In 1997, for example, Norwegian researchers questioned 160 cyclists at the end of a 540-kilometer amateur race:

• 22 percent had the feeling after the very long distance that something was wrong with their nerves in the pubic area.
• Nearly 21 percent complained of a numbness on the penis.
• 13 percent reported impotence as a result of the event.

In almost all athletes, the complaints disappeared within the month after the race again.

However, in another survey in 2016, researchers found no increased risk of impotence among cyclists after interviewing about 4,000 runners, swimmers and cyclists about intimate discomfort. For all three sports the impotence rate was the same.

The scientists considered only the cyclists, even those with the most intense training had less erection problems than the average. At the same time, those cyclists who left the saddle for at least 20 percent of their driving time rarely experienced deafness in the genital area.

One of the most sensitive regions of the body

"The study situation on the subject is unfortunately not clear", says the urologist Stefan Staudte from Munich, who drives intensively mountain biking and earlier took part in cycling. From his experience it is quite possible that cycling temporarily leads to impotence, but that is very rare. If so, then cyclists are affected, often driving very long distances.

In contrast, the doctor encounters another problem more frequently in everyday working life: numbness in the intimate area. "That also affects women," he says. The complaints are unsurprising.

Experts believe that a wrong sitting position leads to the problems: If the body weight in the saddle is not evenly distributed on the buttocks, it is largely on the dam, the area between genitals and anus. Here run nerves and arteries that control the penis and provide the erectile tissue with blood.

Who has no pain, can go on carefree

"The most sensitive part is the front of the dam at the junction with the genitals," says Staudte. If the saddle presses on this area, shearing forces attack the nerves. These are the result of a slight slide in and out of the saddle, which tugs at the tissue.

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"Anyone who has no complaints during or after cycling does not have to worry," said the doctor. "But if the genital area becomes numb, hurts or there are problems urinating, you should change something." On the other hand, giving up cycling on account of the symptoms is not a smart idea. "Like any other form of exercise, cycling promotes circulation and protects against potency problems."

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Harvard Medical School also recommends cyclists with discomfort to change the seating position. To shift the weight to the bones in the buttocks, you could, for example, the handlebar slightly higher, so you sit upright. Racing cyclists should at least bring the handlebar and saddle to the same height.

The saddle should fit like a shoe

In addition, Staudte advises to check the width of the saddle. "The saddle should be so wide that the sit bones fit well on it, their spacing is different for each person," explains the urologist. "You also look for shoes that match the size of your feet."

Anyone can test how wide the saddle is at home. To do this, place a corrugated cardboard with the waves up on a stool and press the seat bones into the cardboard. The distance of the pressure points plus two centimeters are a good indication of the optimal nut width. If you are unsure, you can be measured in specialized bike shops.

"Basically, the more upright the seat, the wider the saddle," says Staudte. On the racing bike, the saddle may therefore be one centimeter narrower than the standard value. Anyone who sits completely upright on the bike needs one or two centimeters more.

From special saddles without nose or variants with a split seat Staudte does not mind. On them you sit too unstable. On the other hand, it is important that the saddle point points downwards and the seat surface is raised, so that the dam does not rest on the front.

Whether the saddle fits, you can check by putting your finger from the front to the rear between the saddle and the dam, while sitting on the bike, explains Staudte. In the best case, you can get close to the anus and still have a game - "the more, the better."

CONCLUSION: It is very unlikely that a man becomes impotent through cycling. However, if you have pain in the genital area while biking or a numb feeling, you should check your sitting position. To give up cycling as a precaution is not a good idea. Exercise is healthy and also protects against potency problems.