Effects of tightlacing on the body

Tightlacing is the practice of wearing a corset that has been tightly laced to shape the body to a desired figure. This practice has been in effect since the early years of corsetry, often deplored by moralists and the subject of urban legends and cautionary tales in many centuries. For the same amount of time, doctors spoke against the practice, citing dramatic risks to the wearer's health. However, many claims were based on the incomplete medical knowledge of the day, as well as incorrect assumptions and beliefs about the female body.

There is no actual evidence from specific, cited autopsies supporting the notion that the heart is damaged by corsetry.

A study was published in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 1989, showed that participants who wore waist belts when weight lifting had an increase in blood pressure. that when weight lifting, the support belts that the men wore increased their blood pressure. This inspired the popular corset maker and founder of Lucy's Corsetry, Lucy Williams, to see if this could potentially apply to corsets as well. In a video, she measures her blood pressure both in and out of the corset, seeing a 10% increase of blood pressure while wearing a corset. This is consistent with the 1989 study which saw a 6-15% increase in blood pressure of the wearers.

The constriction of the corset, if too tight, prevents the lower lobes of the lungs from fully expanding when taking a breath. This puts extra strain on and causes additional work for the lower lobes of the lungs. David Kunzle, an art historian, argues that because the lower lobes have been strained, they are unable to adequately fight off pneumonia or bacillus tuberculosis which go to the lower lobes of the lungs first.

However, Valerie Steele notes that the corset's association with tuberculosis originated before the bacillus was discovered, and that the corset may have only aggravated the condition.

In the nineteenth century, corseting was thought to lead to cardiac palpitations in the heart and spanaemia, or the lack of oxygen in the blood.

This claim was successfully debunked, as there is no evidence to support corset-caused circulatory damage.

The pressure placed on the breasts results in many injuries and complications. Corset-wearing cannot cause breast cancer. Occurring more frequently is a reduction of the size of the nipples. Victorians believed the corset caused mammary abscesses, a common inflammation of the connective tissue in the breast; however, mastitis is caused by bacteria, and thus there is no evidence supporting that clothing of any type alone could have led to the condition. These effects are only consistent with that of over-bust corsets and not relevant to those using under-bust only.

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