Measuring sit bones--is my yoga mat defective?

[Ana]

Hi Ana... OK, first of all, ditch that ball chair to sit on for the measurement.

Good Luck!

Oh no, I am not using my ball chair to measure my sit bones! I was just pointing out that I don't have a hard-surfaced chair.

Thank you for the tips!

I also repeated the measurements several times, and reckoned an average.

You sound like a scientist--I can appreciate that

Be sure you put it on a raised surface (like a chair or bench), sit and lean forward. When you lean forward, your sit bones will poke through more to make the indentations more clear.

I think you have the right size, though. When the saddle is too wide, you will have chafing problems from the sides of the saddle or your hips may rock. When the saddle is too narrow, you will have more soft tissue pain and pressure on the pubis, because not enough of your weight is supported by your sit bones. Sit bone pain only, though, indicates that you probably have the right size. It can take time to break in the saddle (and your butt). I do agree that more padding isn't necessarily good, but often too much padding causes different problems than what you're experiencing.

You may want to play with the angle of the saddle to see if that makes a difference.

I'll try the leaning forward thing Yeah, I think I have the right size but the pain is so different from my previous saddle I am going to give it a chance and try to break it in, though

I am also playing with the saddle tilt a bit. I am trying to figure out what that "butt support" thing is all about. I am just not sure whether I have it because my sensations of the saddle are overwhelmingly of the pain in my sitbones. I have a 2-bolt system so it's pretty good. I usually put a book on top of the saddle and see if it's level (although I don't actually own a level so it's not that exact).