I have very large breasts, and yes I have back pain. (I think I’ve started a thread on here before re: wanting reduction surgery.) But I have found that since I started doing Jazzercise about a year and a half ago, my pain has lessened somewhat. Just doing a little bit of work on my back and shoulder muscles has made a big difference.
Still want a reduction, though.
The only time I had breast-related back pain, it was due to a bra that didn’t fit well. For me, the big disadvantages are sagginess, difficulty finding a comfortable position to sleep, and the fact that they sometimes get in the way.
It’s not the breasts that hurt, it’s the shoulders and upper back. I think it really depends on the bra. Now that I’m pregnant and don’t give a crap about looking good, I switched to these really awesome sports bras and have no back pain, no shoulder pain, no nothing. I have uni-boob all the time, though. Oh well.
There’s always got to be one in every thread, doesn’t there?
With the right bra, I’m okay. I used to have dents in my shoulders from the straps, but at that point in my life I had not been properly fitted.
Note that this is entirely my fault. When I was in college somebody got a handout on the proper way to measure yourself, so we all did, and I came out as a 30H, or some ridiculous thing. I knew that couldn’t be right, because bras don’t come in H. So I spent years wearing a 32DD if I could find it, and a 34C if I couldn’t, and those were not the right bras.
Turns out, they do come in H, only I’m bigger now, so it’s 32G.
With the wrong one, not only did my shoulders ache, but running, dancing, and riding were very uncomfortable. For dancing I used a combination of sports bra and Ace bandage. (The “mummy” track.)
34H checking into say that for whatever reason, I do get a lot of headaches, shoulder and upper back aches. Whether it is due to the breasts themselves, the straps putting pressure on the shoulder muscles or bad posture -(some large breasted women tend to round or ‘hunch’ their shoulders) -I couldn’t say.
I’m a 32D/DD at 5’2" and I honestly don’t think my boobs look all that huge (then again, I live in LA so I’m comparing myself against a different animal altogether). I do use two sports bras to exercise and my bras are more or less impossible to find but that’s it. No back pain or anything. The only thing that has ever hurt is when I had a late age growth spurt (in my late 20s), didn’t notice that they had grown, kept squeezing myself into my old size and wondering why the underwires were bruising me no matter how many different brands I tried. Then I got refitted at Nordstrom.
I wonder what the rationale for stopping that line at nearly C is. If they made a nearly D, I’d try it out to see how it fit.
I’m a little confused by some of the comments…is the OP asking if big breasts cause breast pain or back pain? I assumed the latter, but clearly some people did not.
38 G here - I’ve never really had back pain, but they are a nuisance. It is very difficult to find good fitting bras, and those that do fit well are usually expensive, ugly or both. It bothers me that my friends who have a C cup can buy bras for ten pounds, I have to go to a specialist shop and spend 40 (though this is slowly getting better, with more shops selling wider ranges of sized).
A bad fitting bra can hurt your shoulders and the skin on your back, crush your boobs and have wires poke you in the chest. Even a good fitting bra doesn’t stay that way for long - wearing a washing take their toll and I find I am constantly replacing them. I guess they are under too much strain?
Clothes are a pain to buy - I am overweight anyway, but my boobs are still disproportionately large. When buying shirts I have to chose between tight and gaping on the boobs, but nice fit elsewhere, or good fit on the boobs that hangs off me everywhere else. Difficult for smart office clothes.
My biggest complaint though is exercising. I have tried many, many sports bras and none reduce the movement to an acceptable level. I currently wear a regular underwired bra beneath a level 4 shock absorber and that just about makes it bearable. Here’s the thing guys - bouncing boobs really hurt. Your nipples get raw, the sides ache and you are constantly in danger of knocking yourself out 
I’m taller - 5’6 or 5’7". But a small ribcage. I measure out as a 32F. I’m also 43 years old, so I’ve had extra time to develop those pains associated with carrying extra weight around on your chest. My breasts weren’t painful until about five years ago - when the stabbing pains started. The back pain started with breastfeeding - when I had MORE volume and weight on my chest.
And I think that may be what the OP was asking about. I’ve heard many large-breasted women complain about back pain caused by the breasts, whereas complaints for pain in the breasts themselves seem to be about as common along all sizes.
38HH here and yes, they do sometimes cause back and shoulder pain, although I buy well fitting bras (thank god for Freya) which helps, I think.
I find a bigger problem (TMI alert) is rashes under the boobs. I find with even the best fitting bra, there is a bit of rubbing under my boobs, especially if I’m doing a bit of exercise and getting a bit hot and sweaty. I pretty much have a permanent circle of rash on my boobs and the area directly beneath them.
I’ve had rashes under the boobs every hot sweaty summer. Wearing a comfortable, well-fitting supportive cotton bra to lift them up is supposed to help, but I can’t STAND wearing a bra in the hot summer (unless I’m out in public, of course, preferably somewhere air conditioned). The rash isn’t itchy or painful, but it does look absolutely horrible under there, like scalding burns. I went to a sports store and bought a deodorant-like stick of something for joggers, to prevent chafing. A chafing stick. This summer has actually been bearable, heat and humidty wise, so I haven’t had the rash or tried out the chafing stuff.
(Must put in the inevitable aging saggy boob joke: “Do you have any breast pain, Mrs. Smith?” “No, Dr. Jones, except when I accidentally step on them!”
Right, but it is a measure of volume as compared to the woman’s frame. So that doesn’t contradict what I said.
And for the underboob rash ladies–have you considered the possibility that there could be something fungal going on? I’ve known more people with some kind of chronic rash or something who have finally gone to the dermatologist and had their problem solved within a few days.
According to what I’ve read and my doctor - women with bigger and denser breasts are at higher risk for unexplained breast pain - the theory is there is simply more tissue and therefore more risk. But while the breast pain is painful, it generally isn’t indicative of any problems and can usually be managed with OTC painkillers.
DDDD? 32G? 38HH?
Ahhh…ummmmmm…errrrr…When’s the next real life SD meeting?
I’m a small-framed woman who was a 38DDD when I had my reduction surgery in my early 30’s. I developed early and rapidly, but never had any pain until the year prior to my surgery. Then the PMS swelling became very painful, and I started getting pain in my shoulders and between my shoulder blades.
So, decades with no pain and them wham. But I was lucky in that I was quickly approved for reduction surgery. They took off ten pounds of breast tissue (not fat), so I was not only big, I was heavy.
FWIW, I did think that the OP was referring to pain in the actual breast rather than back pain.
Yeah, and it’s tiresome at best.
Astro asked a reasonable question about a non-sexual aspect of having large breasts. Please let us discuss the mechanics in peace.
We already know you like big tits, okay? Go jerk off somewhere else.
I’m a 36DD, and I don’t have any back pain related to my breasts. I do, however, occasionally get tender breasts related to hormonal fluctuations that only last a few days.
There are a few things that suck about having big breasts: 1) I can’t see my waist unless I move the boobs out of the way. Even then, I only have a vague idea of what my waist looks like outside of the “mirror view”. 2) Finding a good sports bra is a pain in the ass-- if I find ones that fit, they often don’t keep the bounciness under enough control to be comfortable, and they’re almost always expensive. 3) They get in the way all the time. Can’t see past 'em unless I bend from the waist, they often end up bumping into stuff while I’m trying to carry things, and sometimes they decide that they’re going to hang out almost under my arms. 4) Buying clothes that fit well is a pain, as I’m not in the standard proportions for most clothing manufacturers. If it weren’t for the fact that they’re proportionate, I’d wish to have smaller breasts again.
I’m small-framed, only five feet tall, and wear a 32DD. Mostly, my pain is due to rounding my shoulders since the fourth grade when these bad boys first showed up. I think this is probably a result of years of trying to scrunch down and hide my ill-proportioned breasts rather than the weight of the breasts themselves. I’m working hard to correct my posture on my own, but I’ll probably still get a reduction when I’m done having kids. I don’t know how much it will help the back pain, but I’ll feel much better about my appearance.
As a sidenote: Now that I’m pregnant, my breasts are HUGE! I feel like a booby clown and the thought of a year of breastfeeding AFTER pregnancy (where they’ll get even larger) makes me wonder if I should get the reduction before my last kid. I really look surreal post-baby and my back actually hurts quite a bit due to the extra five - ten pounds on my chest at any given time.
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Come on, guys, we’re not 13 years old here.
This is a serious topic. Keep it that way, please.
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