You may be thinking this is nothing new since you may have heard of breast lymph drainage therapies before. However, the one we teach is more of a breast cleanse technique.

Many of the lymph drainage therapies out there use a light-touch method which applies very gentle and subtle pressure. This therapy is great for many areas of the body, but the light-touch method only works on areas with muscle and there is no muscle in breast tissue.

We’ve also come across many breast cleanse techniques that teach the exact opposite of what you should be doing. Instead of working with the lymphatic system and pulling away toxins, they’re actually massaging them back into the breasts.

There’s also been myths regarding various breast bodywork techniques saying it must be avoided by people with cancer since it was thought to spread cancer. This is simply untrue (source).  However, deep massage should be avoided in fields of radiation, since the skin may be fragile and the underlying tissue may be fibrotic or edematous.

Applying the right amount of pressure is important. And learning how to do breast detox cleanse on yourself is a vital component of not only your breast health, but your overall health as well. When lymphatic vessels and nodes become restricted through lack of physical movement, or clothing that is too tight, the body’s defense system weakens, causing health to deteriorate.

A study published on PubMed found “…that a transient compression applied to single malignant cells embedded in a laminin-rich gel can lead to phenotypic reversion of malignant breast cells. Compressed malignant cells show an increase in nitric oxide production relative to uncompressed malignant cells, and blocking NO [nitric oxide] production also blocks mechanical reversion.”

Just being a woman is the biggest risk factor for developing breast cancer. Less than 1% of all breast cancers diagnosed in the Unites States are men. But is estrogen the primary factor as to why men’s risk of breast cancer is so low?

Estrogen plays an important role in overall health but there’s “bad” and “good” estrogen and like most things, it needs the right balance. Estrogen protects your heart, lungs, eyes, brain, bones, skin, hair and even helps avert cognitive decline. But estrogen is also known to stimulate cellular proliferation associated with breast cancer. Keeping the right balance is important, but even with the estrogen-lowering drugs out there, this still doesn’t get women close to the risk numbers that men have.

However, there have been other studies done that discovered certain types of women have the same risk factor as men, and surprisingly, it wasn’t tied to estrogen. In a study by Singer and Grismaijer, published in Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, they found that bra-free women have a similar incidence of breast cancer as men, which brings us to our next topic.

Just like with most topics, there’s often are a lot of contradicting information that makes it hard to know what’s true and what’s not. BreastCancer.org states a study that ‘Confirms No Link Between Wearing a Bra and Breast Cancer Risk.’

Here’s an excerpt:

“Our study found no evidence that wearing a bra increases a woman’s risk for breast cancer,” said Lu Chen, public health sciences researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “The risk was similar no matter how many hours per day women wore a bra, whether they wore a bra with an underwire, or at what age they first began wearing a bra.”

This study supposedly crushes the myth that wearing a bra can increase breast cancer risk. And if you just read the synopsis, you’ll most likely believe it. But there’s a major flaw with this study. They did not compare risks among women who never wore a bra to those who regularly wore a bra. Instead, the primary comparison was based on average number of hours per day women wore a bra, starting with an interval of 10 hours a day or less.

It’s hard to say that the risk is similar no matter how many hours a day that women wore a bra when the researchers purposely excluded women who never wore a bra. To accurately claim this, they need to look at this group of women, as well as women who wore bras 24 hours a day. Without that data, you can’t accurately claim that there isn’t a link between wearing a bra and breast cancer risk.

We’ve already mentioned the study by Singer and Grismaijer that found that bra-free women have about the same incidence of breast cancer as men. Singer and Grismaijer did a follow-up study in Fiji, published in Get It Off! (ISCD Press, 2000). They found 24 cases of breast cancer in a culture where half the women are bra-free. They discovered that the women getting breast cancer were all wearing bras. An interesting part about this study is that it occurred on a small village where these women had similar genetics, diets and other environmental factors. Yet, the ones getting breast disease were the ones who wore bras for work. These same researchers in another study also found that women who wear a bra 24 hours a day are 125 times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than women who have never worn a bra. Crazy, right?

In a study published in Journal of Oncology Research and Treatment, they concluded that “Wearing a tight bra for many hours a day is associated with increased risk of breast cancer.”

In a Harvard study, they found that, “Premenopausal women who do not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users…”.

These are just a few of the studies. For more research, visit BrasAndBreastCancer.org.

“If you don’t want your boobs to hit your knees by the time you’re 30, always wear a bra, even to bed,” actress Halle Berry told InStyle magazine. 

This type of information has become ingrained in us. We’ve been putting young girls in training bras and sports bras before their breasts even start to develop. But is this mindset correct?

Contrary to what we’ve all been taught, a 15-year French study found that bras do more harm than good and result in greater breast sagging. Professor Rouillon, a sports science expert, reported that the bra is a false necessity. “Medically, physiologically, anatomically – breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra.”

Volunteers for the study were between 18 and 35 years old and spanned 15-years. Rouillon found that women who never wore bras had nipples on average seven millimeters higher in relation to their shoulders each year, compared to regular bra users. They also found that their breasts were firmer and their stretch marks faded.

Keep in mind this was a small sample and might not be representative of the entire population. However, it does make one stop and think about what we’ve always been told.

From looking at it from a scientific perspective, ligaments will naturally grow additional fibers as a response to increased exercise load and functional demands. When breasts are immobilized within bras, Cooper’s ligaments no longer do much work and the saying “use it or lose it” may become relevant.

Professor Göran Samsioe in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sweden’s Lund University explains that “everyday, natural movements” encourage the development of the breast-supporting tissues. “If natural movement is restricted by a bra that is too tight, it can affect the growth of these tissues.”

Wearing a bra that is too tight or an underwire bra impedes the body’s ability to move lymph through the breast tissue, as well as diminishes blood flow and nerve function.

Now keep in mind going “cold turkey” when it comes to reducing bra use, might not be a good idea. Jogging or other high-impact sports can cause intense bouncing (especially with heavier breasts) which may result in stretching of the ligaments, leading to increased sagging. However, increasing the time spent without wearing a bra might be beneficial, especially starting with light activity around the house like cooking and cleaning. And when you combine reduced bra use with our ligament strengthening techniques that we teach in our Best Breast Health Program, you’ll notice results much faster.

Cooper’s ligaments are bands of tough, fibrous connective tissue that help shape and support breasts. Over time, these ligaments stretch out and lose their shape, causing the breasts to droop. The vast majority of people believe that once these ligaments are stretched, it can’t be reversed or repaired, meaning droopy boobs are inevitable as we get older.

But this simply isn’t true.

The reason why people believe that ligament repair is unattainable, is because the blood supply to ligaments is limited and therefore healing is slow and not always complete. However, there are techniques that encourage ligament repair and tightening, techniques that increase blood flow to allow for better circulation which carries nutrients and oxygen to the area. This technique is taught through our Best Breast Health Program.

Pregnancy, Breastfeeding & Deflated Balloons

Breastfeeding not only gives your baby a healthy start, but it also lowers your breast cancer risk. Despite all the health perks, breastfeeding isn’t easy. Be sure to seek out help from a lactation consultant if you’re having trouble.

Breasts grow during pregnancy which means there is more opportunity for stretching and loosening of the ligaments. For those that breastfeed, the additional increase in size and weight of being full of breastmilk, means that the Cooper’s ligaments stretch even more. When it comes time to ween, the tissues inside the breast shrink, even though the surrounding skin doesn’t, making the breast look deflated and empty. In good scenarios, a woman’s body deposits fat back to the breast, allowing the breasts to rebound to their pre-pregnancy size, but this process can take months. Unfortunately, in many scenarios, women end up smaller than their pre-pregnancy breast size. Without the support of these ligaments, the breast tissue sags under its own weight (even if you’re barely an A cup) since it’s heavier than the fat around it.

Talk about nature’s cruel prank. Many of us women were happy with our pre-pregnancy breasts. Then, we were subjected to a ‘free trial’ of fuller breasts that for some of us lasted for years, then suddenly left with smaller and saggy breasts. Ultimately, for some of us, this can lead to a lower self-esteem and discontent with our new breast size and shape. It’s no wonder that breast augmentation is so common.

But once again, there are ways to re-tighten the ligaments and regain some of that fullness, without surgery!

Cooper’s Ligaments Firming Exercises

The internet is full of great information, but also wrong information. There are a lot of exercises out there that claim to strengthen Cooper’s ligaments, but ligaments are not muscles. By doing exercises like push-ups and chest presses you will tone the pectoral muscles in the chest area along with the “wing” muscles (aka serratus anterior) directly under your armpit. Toning muscles in the chest area is great, but don’t expect these moves to accomplish lifting your breasts out of the saggy zone.

To tighten ligaments, you need a different technique, one that actually removes the toxins to make them lighter and then tighten the ligaments to raise them and make them fuller. We teach this technique in our Best Breast Health.