Missionary is the second most dangerous sex position, doctors have revealed.

In a new study, published in the Journal of Impotence Research, experts looked at the “relationship between sexual position and severity of penile fracture” in heterosexual partnerships.

They then categorised different sex positions according to which posed the most danger to men.

The biggest offender was “doggy style,” which causes 41 per cent of penile fractures, the study found.

Missionary was the second most threatening, causing 25 per cent of penile fracture cases, followed by sex with the woman of top.

The research comes after a recent study which looked at the UK’s favourite sex positions and revealed that, whilst most dangerous, “doggy style” is also the most popular amongst sexually active Brits, with one in four citing it as their all-time favourite position.

This was followed by women being on top (23 per cent) and missionary (21 per cent).

'We do not observe differences between the severity of the penile fracture between the ‘doggy style’ and ‘man-on-top’, but the ‘doggy style’ had more severity of penile fracture when compared with ‘woman-on-top,’” the study’s authors explained.

They gathered data by examining 90 patients who had been diagnosed with penile fractures and subsequently assessed the dangers of different sex positions by analysing the mechanisms of each individual’s injury.

Participants had an average age of 39.

They also found that missionary and “doggy style” showed more associations with “bilateral fractures of the corpus cavernosum and urethral lesions.”