Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Background: Chest binding is when a person wears a compressive tank top to flatten the appearance of their chest. This can decrease gender dysphoria and suicidality while increasing confidence, participation, and safety in public spaces. Chest binding is usually done by transgender men or transmasculine youth between the onset of puberty and accessing top surgery (for those who can and want to). Chest binding can cause pain and other symptoms. People who bind are often left to cope on their own without access to knowledgeable and safe healthcare providers. The specific impacts of chest binding on the body or how best to alleviate symptoms have not been studied. Purpose: To measure the impacts of chest binding on the movement and function of the ribs, lungs, spine and upper extremity and differentiate between short- (only present when binding) and long-term impacts on function and health. Methods: Participants will be people living in Canada aged 14 years or older with more than one month of chest binding experience or, for matched controls, chest dysphoria with minimal chest binding. We will analyze the function of ribs, lungs, spine, and arms when individuals are binding as compared to not binding and compare to similar non-binding individuals. Outcomes: We will identify how chest binding affects the body and whether the impacts are reversible when the binder is removed. This will help us prevent symptoms and other negative outcomes from chest binding. This will allow individuals to bind as much as they need to feel safe and healthy.