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The Most Dangerous sex Position Revealed

It may have been relegated to the butt of sitcom jokes and the go-to move for rookies but the missionary position does have one advantage: it will keep you out of the emergency room.

A new study claims the woman on top position – or “cowgirl” for those with a penchant for saddles – is responsible for half of all penile fractures in the bedroom.

Doggy-style is second on the list, accounting for 29 per cent of emergency penile admissions.

The results were collated by looking at patient admissions at three Brazilian A&E units with suspected "penile fractures" over a 13 year period and published in the Advances in Urology journal.

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The research concluded: "Our study supports the fact that sexual intercourse with 'woman on top' is the potentially riskiest sexual position related to penile fracture.

"Our hypothesis is that when woman is on top she usually controls the movement with her entire body weight landing on the erect penis, not being able to interrupt it when the penis suffers a wrong way penetration, because the harm is usually minor in woman with no pain but major in the penis.

"On the contrary, when the man is controlling the movement, he has better chances of stopping the penetration energy in response to the pain related to the penis harm, minimising it."

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Confusingly, some men waited up to six hours before seeking medical help, although a full 50 per cent heard an audible cracking sound during sex.

Of the 44 cases, 42 of the cases were confirmed by doctors. 28 fractures were sustained during heterosexual sex, four during homosexual sex, six after “penis manipulation” and four in circumstances which remain unclear.

Most cases of penile fracture - ruptures of the blood-filled tubes in your erection - occur from very vigorous sex, explains Dr Justin Lehmiller, who teaches human sexuality and psychology at Harvard University.

Like an elbow or knee, your erect penis can be hyper-extended if you put too much or too frequent downward pressure on the shaft, finds a study from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Over time, this hyper-extension can lead to peyronie’s disease - a buildup of plaques that causes a penis to bend while erect.

Missionary position isn’t completely safe, though: it accounted for 21 per cent of admissions.