Assessing user needs of senior women during yoga exercises to optimize the design criteria of sports bras

Abstract

Given the arising burdens in social, economic and healthcare aspects due to the ageingpopulation, senior women are encouraged to do more exercises in order to stay active.However, they are unwilling to do so due to various physical and psychological barriers.During the ageing process, the overall body shape has significant changes and breastbecomes sagging. The design of sportswear could be one of the major factors recoveringtheir motivation and confidence during social activities. In this study, questionnaire and fieldexperiments were conducted to investigate the influence of sportswear on senior women. Byanalyzing the results, the needs on sports bra were primarily determined. Coupled with theresults of biomechanical analysis from motion tests, the breast deformation during yogaposes was analyzed. The questionnaire shows that senior women mainly focused on thesupport and comfort of sports bras no matter how long their yoga practice history. Followingare the “easy to wear on and take off” and “more coverage such as long shirt design andhigher neckline design”. From motion analysis, the breast deformation was changing in alarge range when doing Warrior I and Warrior II yoga poses. To address the needs, sports bradesign in terms of fabric, elastics, and over 10 features of construction were determined. As aresult, the main purpose of this study suggests the design criteria on the optimization ofsports bra which can fulfill the needs of physical and psychological for senior women.