Parthiban Sujeeth, Hotaling James M, Kathrins Martin, Baftiri Amit P, Freels Sally, Niederberger Craig S
Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago , Chicago, IL , United States.
Department of Urology, University of Illinois at Chicago , Chicago, IL , United States.
PeerJ. 2015 Dec 21;3:e1477. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1477. eCollection 2015.
Background. Perineal pressure due to bicycle riding has been associated with erectile dysfunction. We developed a novel method to measure the occlusive force exerted over the perineal arteries and determined perineal artery occlusion by a variety of seat designs. Methods. Doppler ultrasonography facilitated perineal artery localization and determination of the force required for perineal artery occlusion in 20 healthy men. Flexiforce(®) sensors were affixed over the proximal and distal aspects of the perineal arteries bilaterally. Individuals completed bicycle rides in the road- and stationary-settings with six distinct seat designs, including those with and without an anterior "nose." Results. The occlusion time proportion of the total ride time was calculated for each trial. The overall occlusion time proportion was 0.59 (95% CI [0.45-0.73]) across all seats and settings. The "no-nose" bicycle seat and the stationary-setting demonstrated significantly lower occlusion proportion times than the traditional nose bicycle seat and road-setting, respectively. However, all bicycle seats yielded an occlusion time proportion of 0.41 or greater. Discussion. Our method of real-time, non-invasive force measurement localized to the perineal arteries may be used to validate future bicycle seat design. It also underscores the significant risk of perineal artery insufficiency in men who are avid bicyclists. This risk may be minimized by using newer "no-nose" bicycle seats.
背景。骑自行车时产生的会阴部压力与勃起功能障碍有关。我们开发了一种新方法来测量作用于会阴部动脉的闭塞力，并通过各种座椅设计确定会阴部动脉闭塞情况。方法。采用多普勒超声对20名健康男性进行会阴部动脉定位，并确定会阴部动脉闭塞所需的力。在双侧会阴部动脉的近端和远端粘贴Flexiforce（®）传感器。受试者使用六种不同的座椅设计在道路和固定环境中完成骑自行车测试，包括有无前部“鼻状”设计的座椅。结果。计算每次试验中闭塞时间占总骑行时间的比例。所有座椅和环境下的总体闭塞时间比例为0.59（95%CI[0.45 - 0.73]）。“无鼻状”自行车座椅和固定环境下的闭塞比例时间分别显著低于传统鼻状自行车座椅和道路环境下的。然而，所有自行车座椅的闭塞时间比例均为0.41或更高。讨论。我们这种针对会阴部动脉的实时、非侵入性测力方法可用于验证未来自行车座椅设计。这也凸显了热衷于骑自行车的男性会阴部动脉供血不足的重大风险。使用新型“无鼻状”自行车座椅可将这种风险降至最低。
