Penile fracture, although rare, is a very real risk during sexual intercourse. The idea of such an injury is enough to send a shiver of fear down the spine of even the boldest of men. Thankfully, the chances of such an injury can be significantly reduced if you take certain precautions.
The key to avoiding the risk of penile fracture, according to a recently published study, is position, position, position. In other words, each of the most popular sexual positions carries a certain degree of risk, and you can minimize the chances that you’ll fall victim to such an injury by choosing positions with the least risk of penile fracture.
Brazilians Research Positions, Injuries
A team of urogenital researchers at Rio de Janeiro’s Souza Aguiar Municipal Hospital, affiliated with the State University of Rio de Janeiro, explored the relationship between common sexual positions and the severity of penile fracture. In addition to sexual position, researchers considered the mechanism of injury in cases of penile fracture that were not directly associated with a position.
Studied closely were the incidence and severity of penile fracture in the following six categories: (1) masturbation or penile manipulation; (2) man-on-top position; (3) doggy-style position; (4) woman-on-top position; (5) blunt trauma; and (6) “rolling over” fracture. Findings from their study were published in the September 2017 issue of the “International Journal of Impotence Research.”
How Does a Penis Fracture?
Talk of penile fracture clearly begs the question of how one can fracture an organ that has no bone. While we’ve come to believe that a fracture injury in humans is one in which a bone is broken, the word “fracture” actually refers to “the cracking or breaking of a hard object or material,” according to the website of Oxford Living Dictionaries. And under ideal circumstances, an erect penis is definitely “a hard object.”
Within the shaft of the penis are two cylinders of spongy erectile tissue that are known collectively as corpora cavernosa (or individually as corpus cavernosum). In response to feelings of sexual desire or physical stimuli to the penis or other male erogenous zones, the brain kicks off a series of chemical reactions that eventually send blood coursing toward the pelvic region. As that robust blood flow fills up the corpora cavernosa, the penis becomes erect.
Connective Tissue Stretches and Ruptures
Enveloping the corpora cavernosa of the penile shaft is a membrane known as the tunica albuginea, which is a tough fibrous layer of connective tissue when the penis is flaccid. However, as the penis becomes erect, the surprisingly elastic tunica albuginea is stretched thinner and thinner as the corpora cavernosa fill with blood. What actually happens during penile fracture is a rupture of the tunica albuginea, which then allows the blood held within the corpora cavernosa to escape into the surrounding tissue as the penis once again becomes flaccid.
Banging an erect penis into another hard object, such as a brick wall or the perineum or pubic bone of your partner, can cause a rupture in the tunica albuginea, which constitutes a penile fracture. Immediate medical attention is essential to surgically remove the hematoma caused by the release of blood into the surrounding tissue of the penis and to repair the tunica albuginea.
Penile Fracture Is Very Painful
It should come as no surprise that penile fracture is an incredibly painful experience. If the pain were not enough to alert you that something was amiss, penile fracture is almost always signaled by a snapping sound, which occurs presumably as the taut tunica albuginea ruptures. Another telltale sign of penile fracture is an almost immediate discoloration of the penile tissue — known to urologists as the “eggplant sign” — as the blood previously trapped within the corpora cavernosa flows into surrounding tissue.
So what can you do to minimize your chances of experiencing penile fracture? Be very careful to choose sexual positions that minimize your risk of injury to the penis. Or if you opt to try one of the more perilous positions, try not to lose yourself completely to the passion of the moment so that you can exercise care to keep your penis from colliding with an unyielding part of your partner’s anatomy.
Doggy-Style Most Dangerous
The Brazilian research team closely examined the circumstances surrounding penile fracture in 90 patients who’d been diagnosed with varying degrees of penile fracture injury. Sexual intercourse was by far the most common cause of penile fracture, accounting for 69 of the 90 injuries studied. Within the broad context of sexual intercourse, they determined that the doggy-style position (man with woman) was by far the most hazardous, accounting for 37 cases of penile fracture, or 41 percent of all such cases.
The second most dangerous sex position, according to the research study, was the man-on-top position, which accounted for 23 penile fractures, or 25.5 percent of the total. The woman-on-top position was involved in nine cases of penile fracture, or 10 percent of the total, making it the third most dangerous sexual position. The remaining cases of penile fracture were caused by injuries outside the context of sexual intercourse.
Interestingly, a 2014 study, also conducted in Brazil, looked at the causes of penile fracture in patients seeking care at three hospitals in Campinas and found that most of those cases resulted during sex with the woman on top.
A Topic for Couples to Discuss
As men become more comfortable talking about sex and their preferences, the pros and cons of various sexual positions is a topic that couples can discuss frankly with one another.
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