Featured Image Credit: Getty stock images
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Health, TikTok
Britt Jones
Sex is a healthy part of a relationship as it allows both partners to feel closer to one another, but it can also hurt if not careful.
As anyone sexually active knows, it isn’t entirely risk-free; if you’re not safe, you could contract STIs, chafe, get pregnant or more. There’s also the risk of hurting yourself physically.
However, when it comes to men, there’s something that could happen that might put them off the act for some time.
It’s when they break their penis.
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Now, you might be wondering how anyone could break a penis during sex, but it is a thing that can happen. Known as a Banjo snap, this occurs when a little fold of connective tissue, called the frenulum, snaps.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a sign of a fractured penis is typically a 'popping or cracking' sound when an erect penis is severely bent or hit.
Luckily for anyone with a penis reading this, these types of fractures seemingly aren't common, with some reports suggesting that they happen to 1 in 10,000 people; however, it might be because they aren't reported as often.
Now, you might be asking yourself how exactly it could fracture during sex, but, according to a doctor, there's one sex position that is usually the culprit for these types of injuries.
According to TikTok’s most popular doctor, Dr Karan Rajan, you’ll hear the ‘pop’ of the tissue if you’re doing reverse cowgirl.
"This is the most dangerous sex position according to science, and it's the cause of 50 per cent of penile fractures,” he said.
If you aren't familiar with that position, then it's usually when the receiving partner is on top and facing backwards.
What can happen is the couple can knock themselves out of sync and their rhythm no longer lines up, causing the penis to slip out and hit the other person’s pubic bone, the doc explains.
While the penis doesn’t actually break because there are no bones in that location to break, people call it a ‘break’ because of the tear in the frenulum.
“This is a rubbery sheath of tissue that allows the penis to enlarge during an erection,” explained Dr Rajan.
The injury can cause blood, too, with men's sex coach Cam Fraser telling The Hook Up that 'the skin is tearing from the foreskin from being retracted too far, and maybe with too much vigour'.
It can happen during oral sex, or masturbation - so best watch how fast you are going in the heat of the moment.
It's better to be safe than sorry, after all.