Knix Catalyst: a full-support sports bra that doesn't hurt!

This post is a review of a bra. The content contains non-sexual descriptions of breasts, and the links contain catalogue-style photos of bras being worn by models.

 

Three years after my very first bra-induced back pain incident rendered every sports bra I was professionally fitted with useless, I've finally found a sports bra that provides full support and doesn't hurt at all: the Knix Catalyst!

It holds my E-cup breasts firmly in place with no bouncing whatsoever, and it simply doesn't hurt my back or my ribs or anything. Despite my heavy breasts and protruding ribcage, it keeps my breasts lifted up high enough that they don't rest on my ribcage. Even if I have it on a too-loose setting (there are five rows of hooks rather than the usual three, so there's a lot of range available!), it gaps in the back and still stays snug and supportive under the underbust, unlike all too many bras that gap under the underbust (thereby making my breasts fall straight down with no support whatsoever) while still applying pressure (and, often, pain!) on my back.

I suspect the design feature that makes it painless is that all of the band is equally stretchy. There isn't an elastic at the bottom that's stiffer than the rest of the band, there are none of these things (I don't know what they're called) that are somehow stiffer than the rest of the band and consequently exert pressure in that part of my ribs. It's all perfectly even, thereby distributing the pressure over as much area as possible.

And, as an added bonus, it's a gorgeous shade of purple! (And is available in a bunch of other colours as well!)

A few things to know about buying from Knix:

- Knix products are not available at any other store. Therefore, this bra is likely not in your friendly local bra fitter's repertoire.

- Knix has its own sizing system that is completely unlike any other sizing system I have ever encountered. I am a 36E (in Simone Perele, Fantasie, Freya and Panache), and the Knix size chart put me at at size 7. However, the cups in the size 7 were too small, and I had to exchange it for a size 7+. Knix offers virtual fittings (which I haven't tried), and has stores in a few North American cities (including Toronto, but I haven't visited it).

 

 - Knix offers a 30 days to wash and wear return policy, so you can try on bras, sweat in them, wash them, etc. and return them if they don't work for you. As the Knix website repeatedly states, the bras do start out rather snug, but they loosen with washing and wearing. But even when it was snug, it didn't induce any back pain.

 

- The Knix website led me to believe that I'd be required or at least pressured to go through a virtual fitting in order to return my too-small bra, but in reality it was an automated system that produced a return mailing label instantly without any human intervention.

Overall, if you think any of Knix's products might meet your needs, I recommend trying them. The process is risk-free, the Catalyst certainly lived up to the hype, and I am definitely going to be trying a few other Knix products in the future.

If anyone from Knix is reading this, I'd love to see more bras that accommodate larger cups (quite a few of the styles seem to top out at the equivalent of a DD cup), and I'd also love to see a sleep bra made of a softer, more t-shirt-like material than the Catalyst is.

Bra back pain braindump

 Physically helpful things:

 

- Do something right away. Last time, I tried to power through it. Bad idea. Take the bra off. Stretch. Take a muscle relaxant. Order half a dozen bras on the internet. Do something.

- Stretching my back vertically helps. Obliques, lats, whatever the muscles from my shoulders to my hips are.

- Rolling on a pilates ball helps. Last time rolling on a pilates ball on the floor was too intense but rolling a pilates ball between my back and the wall helped. This time the wall isn't effective, but the floor gloriously grinds up pockets of pain and tightness like a mortar and pestle. Just don't roll the pilates ball directly under your spine - the spine doesn't like that! Roll it just to the left of the spine, then just to the right of the spine.

- Extra sleep helps, by which I mean sleeping until I wake up naturally and then rolling over and seeing if I have more sleep in me. Conversely, insufficient sleep is disproportionately negative. This is super inconvenient.

- Leaning back in my chair helps. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the behaviour of my back muscles or the load-bearing distribution of my bra or just the fact that having my whole back pressed against the backrest eliminates my awareness of the bra elastic. 

- Make the bra straps a bit looser than makes sense. When a tight band has triggered pain, tight straps can trigger additional pain.

 

Psychologically helpful things:

 

- The worst thing is the fear of never being comfortable in a bra at all ever again in the decades of life expectancy I have left. (If you're just tuning in, I'm also not comfortable without a bra.) So it helps psychologically to find opportunities to be comfortable in a) a bra, and b) the particular bra I'm trying to break in. Sometimes this means wearing the bra I'm trying to break in while stretching or while applying a heating pad, so my muscles are physically relaxed in the presence of the triggering band. Sometimes this means wearing my old bra with the dead elastic while sitting perfectly comfortably at my desk working.

- Once I'm confident the bra I'm breaking in isn't actively inducing pain, wearing it out of the house for limited amounts of time helps. When I'm out of the house, the world provides plenty of distractions, so I'm not focusing primarily on my elastics. This also provides cumulative empirical evidence that I can go half an hour or an hour without my back freaking out from the bra. 

Unhelpful things:

- This is one of those problems that leads to a bunch of recommendations for things that I've already tried or that are irrelevant to me. Yes, I do know most women are wearing the wrong bra size! Yes, I have had professional fitting - they can tell me what fits my body but have no expertise in pain issues! Yes, I have tried a bra extender - it just moves the pain to a more sensitive part of my ribs! Yes, I have tried a sports bra - it's worse! Yes, I have tried yoga - I've been doing it for 20 fucking years, and have stretched out every muscle in my back four times already today! I would cheerfully let google stalk me if it meant the algorithm could screen out everything I've already tried!

- The worst part is the dread. This instance of bra pain and my last instance of bra pain came on completely unexpectedly. So, even after I resolve the problem, I never know when it will happen again. I wake up every morning pain-free, but I have no idea what will happen when I get out of bed, when I put on a bra - or make the decision to sit around the apartment without a bra. Even though I spent 6 straight hours perfectly comfortable in a proper bra yesterday and, as I type this, have been perfectly comfortable in a proper bra for 7 hours, I can't imagine what will happen if I go to that wedding next year or go into the office for a full day or take a train out of the city to visit someone. In a world where things can go wrong, I can't imagine them going right, and that taints the anticipation of the next time, post-pandemic, when I get to spend time with loved ones or hold a baby or see Eddie Izzard. (Eddie darling, I love you madly, but just because the rules permit live shows doesn't mean they're advisable!)

- And the thing is, I'm one of the lucky ones. I work from home! I can change my bra four times a day or sit around naked or stop to stretch as much as I want! I have the disposable income to spend on new bras and ointments and back massagers! There are people with similar or worse problems whose lives and livelihoods don't allow them this flexibility - possibly including the warehouse and delivery workers bringing me the pile of new bras I ordered to try on, or the bra fitters and massage therapists I might go to if I decide my bra difficulty outweighs my mask difficulty (which I still haven't become desensitized to), all the health care workers taking care of people who have much worse problems, our unhoused neighbours who don't have any space or privacy or leeway to make the hundreds of tiny adjustments that get me through the day . . . why is this even allowed to happen???

If your bra elastic is too tight, stretch it over the back of a chair

I'm having my bra-induced pain issues again. The resulting product reviews, philosophical ponderings and emotional braindumps are forthcoming.

 

But, for the moment, a practical tip:

 

If the band elastic of a new bra is too tight, stretch the bra band over the back of a chair. 

 

Line up the sides of the chair with the sides of the bra, slip the (closed) bra over the back of the chair like you're pulling a shirt over a person's head, and leave it there until you wear it next.

After just one round of stretching, a bra that induced pain after 10 minute became wearable for an hour. After a couple more rounds of stretching, I could get 4 hours out of it - which is long enough for 90% of times I might need to leave the house in non-pandemic conditions and 100% of times I might need to leave the house during pandemic conditions. I've even been able to get 8 hours without inducing new pain into my back, although the situation was not completely devoid of discomfort. (In other words, any unpleasantness disappeared as soon as I undid the bra, rather than sticking around for days afterwards.)

Stretching the bra does, well, stretch it out, as though accelerating the natural wear and tear that would happen over the course of months. But - especially when you're looking at a three-digit price tag - a stretched-out garment that functions is vastly superior to a like-new garment that induces pain.

Bra options for if Fantasie 4510 makes your back hurt

This post contains descriptions of bras and of breasts, from a technical bra-fitting perspective. Linked images are catalogue-style photos of bras being worn by human models.

The Problem

After years of comfortably and happily wearing the same style of bra, (Fantasie 4510 in 34E) I suddenly started experiencing back pain caused by my bra digging into my spine.

Body Type

The Bra That Fits calculator puts me at a 34F. Most of the substance of my breasts naturally falls towards the outside, under my armpits. My ribcage protrudes under my bra band, to the extent that if the protruding part of my ribs were breasts, they would be B cups.

Bras I tried 

Freya Idol AA1050, beige, 36E 

On the first (outermost) hook, this bra is actually a bit too big based on how bras are supposed to fit theoretically. Sometimes this is comfortable, sometimes it's uncomfortable because the wires (sometimes - I haven't yet identified under what conditions) rest on my ribs rather than being tucked up neatly under my inframammary fold.

The second hook is a correct theoretical fit. Sometimes it's comfortable, sometimes it's uncomfortably tight and I like to loosen it.

The advantage of this bra is it gives me both these options.

The disadvantage of this bra is that the elastic at the very bottom of the band is "stiffer" than the rest of the band. In other words, if I put my hands on the elastic at the very bottom of the band and stretch it side to side, then move my hands up to the body of the band and stretch it with the same force, the body of the band stretches far more.  This means I'm hyper-aware of the elastic (the part that's painted red in this picture - the picture only shows a portion of the bra, but I feel it all the way around) and sometimes always feel like it's slipping between my ribs.

I'm also more aware of the wires in this bra, even though their fit is appropriate.  So, while it was the first bra I could wear comfortably, and is a lovely, high-quality garment, I've put it aside after arriving at the Fantasie and Simone Perele options below.

Freya Idol AA1050, white, 36E

After confirming that my first Freya Idol was a painless bra, I went to purchase a second one.  I bought it on ebay from a retailer in the UK, because that's where the best price was and I had to spend so much on bras during this endeavour that I want to save money where I could.

Unfortunately, it didn't fit the same way as the beige one.  The first hook on the white bra gave me the same fit (and maybe even a bit snugger) than the second hook on the beige bra, which, in combination with the same stiffness issues as the beige bra, rendered it useless to me.

Fantasie 4510, 36E

My bra fitter  had stopped stocking the Fantasie 4510, citing a decline in quality.  But I decided to see what my old style was like in my new size, so I ordered one online. The fit is correct from a technical perspective, it doesn't induce pain, but I'm still more aware of it than I prefer. I'm very aware of the part outlined here against my ribs. Sometimes I feel a tinge of something that's almost, but not quite, nausea when I wear it.  I want to take it off after 6 hours. The problem isn't what I actually feel when I'm wearing it, but rather what I'm afraid I'll feel after wearing it longer.

I did not notice the decline in quality cited by my bra fitter in this bra - all these problems are a combination of the fit of the bra and the finicky needs of my back.

I'm keeping it in my arsenal because it still gives me the best line, but it's not for everyday wear.

Fantasie 4510, 38D

Since I thought the band on the 36E was a bit snug, I decided to try a larger band with a sister size cup.  The 38 band is sometimes comfortable on loosest hook and other times has fit problem associated with a too-loose band.  Sometimes it is comfortable on the middle hook and other times I prefer to loosen it.  However, the cups are a bit too small, I bounce more in this bra, and the back arm of the wires is a bit further forward than I'm comfortable with.

This bra was manufactured slightly differently than the 36E (and than my previous Fantasie bras), in a way that looks a bit more crude and utilitarian, so that might be the decline in quality that my bra fitter was referring to. I can't tell if the difference is specific to the sizes or if my E-cup is just an older one and the D-cup is a newer one.

Fantasie 4510, 38DD

Further interneting suggested that, in the Fantasie brand, DD might be a size between D and E (I'd assumed it was a synonym for E, because Americans can be weird about letters beyond D appearing in their bra sizes).  If that's the case, the 38DD would actually be the sister size to the 38D, so I decided to give it a try.


It turns out the cups of the 38DD are a bit too big - I don't fill them entirely, even though the cups are slightly smaller than those of my 36E.  The fact that I'm not filling my cups is obvious when I'm not wearing a shirt, but a shirt conceals this.

The 38DD is the same style of manufacturing as the 38D.

I decided to keep one of the 38s in case I find myself in a situation where I need a magnificent line but can't handle the Fantasie 36E. It was a toss-up, but I decided to go with the 38DD.

Simone Perele Caresse 3D plunge bra, 36E

This was another option provided by my bra fitter.  It doesn't give me as magnificent a line as the Fantasie and the Freya, but the band gently embraces my back without applying nearly as much pressure as the others.  It's now my day-to-day go-to, with the Fantasie held in reserve for when my shape is particularly important.

The only disadvantage of this bra is it shows sweat stains at the slightest provocation, in the area painted red in this picture. Because of this, despite the beauty and comfort of the garment itself, it wouldn't be the right bra for if I had to look good without my shirt on.

Nevertheless, if I were only allowed to own one style of bra, I'd choose this one.

The unsolved sports bra problem

Alongside the Fantasie 4510 in 34E, I was also wearing Panache's wired sports bra in 34E.

I went in for a fitting of sports bras as well, and, after trying a variety of things, found the best fit was the same Panache wired sports bra in 36E.

However, this still exacerbated the back pain. I went and got refitted, and the best we could do was the same Panache wired sports bra in 38DD. Sometimes I wear it on the first hook, and sometimes I wear it on the second hook.

However, it isn't a proper fit, and I find myself wanting to take it off after a couple of hours.  (My life doesn't require me to wear a sports bra for more than a couple of hours, but I still consider it an unacceptable degree of discomfort if I can't wear a bra all day without thinking about it.)

I still haven't found an optimal sports bra.  I have to find out which Toronto bra fitter has a better selection of sports bras (or, barring that, a drastically different selection of sports bras) and get fitted again, and I haven't yet reached the point where the Panache is bugging me enough to motivate me to do that.

The bra fitters I worked with did repeatedly have me trying on various styles that pull over the head and then hook up behind the back (I don't remember the brands or styles), but I couldn't reliably do them up properly.  So if you can do that style of bra up properly, that might be a fruitful direction to look in.

March 2022 update: The Knix Catalyst meets my needs! Full review here

Takeaway

• If the Fantasie 4510 is causing you pain by digging into your spine, try Simone Perele Caresse 3D plunge in a band size larger.
• The Fantasie 4510 in a band size larger fits, but isn't comfortable enough for all day wear. In two band sizes larger and one cup size smaller, it is comfortable but doesn't fit perfectly.
• The Freya Idol is comparable to the Fantasie 4510, but the sizing is unpredictable and the elastic at the bottom of the band feels uncomfortably conspicuous.
• If the Panache wired sports bra is causing you pain by digging into your spine, try two band sizes up and one cup size smaller. But this is not an optimal solution and I have not yet found the optimal solution. (If you have it, post here!)
• Sports bra update! The Knix Catalyst meets my needs! full review here
  

I will update this post as and when I gather new data.

The tight bra chronicles

Just over a month ago, for the very first time in my life, I desperately wanted to take my bra off when I got home.  As soon as the apartment door was closed behind me, I reached up my shirt (not even bothering to take off my coat), undid the hooks, and felt the relief of more pain than I'd realized I was experiencing.  But there was still some residual pain floating around in my back even after I undid the bra.

I conducted experiments in the days that followed, and the correlation was clear: bras were causing the back pain. The pain worsened and worsened as I wore a bra, was immediately relieved when I unhooked the bra, but residual pain lingered even after I removed the bra.

Which is a problem, because I have the kind of body where my breasts hurt if I don't wear a bra!

The weeks that followed were consumed with bra shopping and bra testing and immersing myself in solutions to back pain.  And finally, after much expense and despair, I think I have a bra paradigm that's not exacerbating the pain, and, in the absence of bras that are exacerbating the pain, I think my back is healing.  I have gone as long as six hours without adjusting or thinking about my bra, and the residual pain is such that I wouldn't even be noticing it if I weren't obsessing about how my back feels.

And this makes me feel hopeless.

Not for myself specifically - all signs point to me, personally, being on an improvement trajectory.  Rather, it makes me despair for all humanity.

This is such a stupid problem that, despite over a quarter-century of bra wearing, I could never have predicted.  Yes, I could see with my eyes that the old bras were a bit snug, but before this has only resulted in unsightly bulges, not unprecedented back pain.

And then it took significant time and resources to fix - time and resources that were only available to me because of the privilege I have that is not available to everyone.  Many people can't drop everything and spend hundreds of dollars on bras - for quite a few people, it may well be a choice between a bra that doesn't hurt and food for their family. (The single cheapest available bra that didn't exacerbate the pain was $60, but I needed a fitting from a store where the cheapest appropriate bra was $80 to figure out the approach to solve my problem.) Most people don't have a comfy work-from-home situation where they can switch their bra four times a day, or sit around slathered with Icy Hot or Voltaren, or take frequent yoga breaks. Many people might have to pick up extra hours at work wearing a painful bra to make the money they need to afford a non-painful bra!

What if I had to choose between feeding my children and getting a new bra? What if I were a refugee fleeing oppression with only the clothes on my back?  What if I lived somewhere where I didn't have access to expert bra fitters, or the internet access and/or savvy to find out options on the internet? What if I didn't have a credit card that I could use for online shopping?

And this is just one of the zillions and zillions of stupid little problems that could come sneaking up and disrupt people's lives!  Not to mention the zillions and zillions of much bigger problems that some people reading this are having, as they sit there saying "Ha, she thinks a bra that hurts is a real problem!"

***

It was a year ago this weekend that I had my head injury.  My eyesight still hasn't completely resolved, and my vision therapy progress has been stagnant for so many months that I think it may never completely resolve.

The head injury falls into an annoying space that, before it happened, I never knew existed: an injury that hinders your quality of life, perhaps permanently, but isn't serious enough to count as a disability.

I'm fortunate enough to have disability insurance, so I figured if something happened to me, I'd be fine.  If I can't work, I'd go on disability.

But I can work with the head injury, it's just harder, and takes more out of me so I have less left for the rest of life.  If I wanted to take sick leave and my manager asked for a doctor's note (my employer's policy is that it's up to the manager's judgement), I don't know if I'd be able to get one.  I certainly couldn't get the documentation necessary to go on disability.  So, basically, life is harder, but not bad enough to be permitted a respite.

As I googled around the idea of back pain, I discovered that it's similar - not even as a question of whether it counts as a disability, but just for whether it counts as a problem.

Medical criteria for evaluating back pain ask about whether it affects your sleep, your range of motion, whether it affects your daily activities. This affects none of those. It's a 1 on the pain scale. Even WebMD doesn't think I need to see a doctor unless it persists for over 6 weeks (and they probably mean six weeks from when I stopped wearing bras that worsened the pain.)

And when I read up on what happens when you go to the doctor for back pain, the emphasis seems to be on pain management, not on solving the underlying problem. (There doesn't seem much that can be done to solve the underlying problem, except take care of yourself and maybe it will go away eventually.) It seems quite likely the doctor would say "It goes away when you take an Advil? Great! Keep it up!"

So this is another area where life becomes harder but not bad enough to be permitted a respite.

How many more things like this are going to happen???  And what on earth do people with real problems do?