He's Not The One Making Your Thighs Tingle, It's Your Skinny Jeans Cutting Off A Nerve
Women who feel the odd tingle running up and down their thigh when they're at a party might be disappointed to discover it's just their super-tight skinny jeans cutting off their lateral femoral cutaneous nerve.
"Tingling thigh syndrome," as meralgia paresthetica is better known, is a disease usually reserved for the obese and those doing manual labor. But it's been popping up in slender, fashionable young women recently, mainly due to the popularity of spray-on jeans. Luckily, it's not permanent: the solution is to wear gnarly grey sweatpants all day.
So, ladies, weigh your options carefully when purchasing your fashion-forward pants. Because it's actually not a very pleasant sensation. And heaven only knows what these jeans do to the gentleman wearer's tingly areas.
Skinny Jeans May Be Dangerous to Your Health [NBC]
(Photo: bbaunach)
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Comments:
Didn't Mythbusters bust this when they had Grant wear tight jeans then sit in a tub of water to shrink them even further? I wonder if the thing cutting the blood flow off in the "slender, fashionable young women" is a length of surgical tubing or a belt. Hey, it's what I hear people do at clubs!
I believe this was on Jezebel last week but I'll say it again - I cannot get with the skinny jeans look and possible nerve damage is just one reason.
The links in the story, to NBC, and to the phot credit do not work for me. Everything else is, though.
@SnozberryLicker_GitEmSteveDave:
Ya, but that's just empirical evidence. I'm pretty sure this trumps that because...well, because it's in the news.
@henwy: Well, IIRC, the Mythbusters had a technician use a Doppler imager to monitor the veins in grants legs throughout the six hour soak. And Mythbusters is on TV. That trumps the news. ;)
Another reason why Catholic school girl skirts are always a great idea.
Another reason I loved the '90s. Nobody would ever mistake your clothing for sausage casing, and nobody ever tried to fit a meatball body into sausage-casing clothing.
@Can'tReadEnglish_GitEmSteveDave: I do wonder, though, if they'd have gotten different (or more) results if they'd also had him stand up and walk around (and consume alcohol) for a couple of hours, in addition to the tub-time.
We should all write in and make them do a revisit on that one. ;)
@legotech: I love high heels, and they don't cause me any injury or discomfort (and I avoid grates in the street so also there's no risk of me falling through and being stuck in the sewer system to be devoured by the giant underground mole weasels that live there...I swear).
Can the skinny jeans trend die already? I'm so tired of walking into a store an not getting any kind of reasonable selection (two styles is not reasonable when a few years ago before this stupid trend I had at least six options) because it's hip to wear skinny jeans.
Guess what? If you have hips, skinny jeans make you look terrible. If you have any kind of weight, at all, skinny jeans make you look terrible. If you're a guy, skinny jeans make you look terrible and a hipster, which is infinitely worse.
Please use your mighty powers of good to rid the world of skinny jeans, Consumerist.
@pecan 3.14159265: All you have to do is associate skinny jeans with the Car warranty auto-dialing companies and I think you'd be set.
Skinny jeans- because eating disorders aren't just for women anymore!
Old news. It's the low-rise waist bands and overly tight hips that are pinching the nerves, thus the tingling. Skinny jeans are those tapered in the ankle openings. You get the exact same symptoms with boot-cut or flair-legged styles. I can attest to that.. sigh! The same "news" first appeared when low-rise was all the craze back in the days. Fashion victims all the same though!
I don't understand how skinny jeans became fashionable again. I remember a time not that long ago when we were laughing and making ruthless fun of how stupid they looked. Granted, I was sitting in my giant jnco jeans at the time, the ones that obscure any sort of form hiding under the pants, but my opinion still stands. I will wear bootcut jeans till the day I die.
Or maybe, if you're not actually skinny and slim, you shouldn't be wearing jeans made for those body types. If you're fat or chubby, eat properly and get some exercise. Then, maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to fit your ass in a slim pair of jeans.
Yes, I understand that skinny jeans are a style, but I see way too many "muffin tops" and "thunder theighs" trying to fit into them.
@korybing: Skinny jeans are worse than the wide leg jean trend a few years ago...wherein people didn't understand that anyone shorter than 5'7 looked horrible in wide leg pants that made them look a) wider b) shorter and c) feetless.
Why does this only apply to women? Do you know how many MEN I've seen with those awful skinny jeans on? Do they not have a "lateral femoral cutaneous nerve"? I wish skinny jeans would go away.
@pecan 3.14159265: Tell that to my 5'3" sister. She's probably storing her jncos until they come back in again.
@korybing: Bootcut is seriously the worst jeans cut imaginable. And yes, there is a thing such as too skinny, but slim jeans can instantly lift your appearance tenfold.
God forbid that people wear jeans that fit. And yes, there is a thing such as too skinny, but bootcut should be avoided at all costs.
What's with all the hate on skinny jeans? Other than the health risks posed by this article, it can easily be cured by buying a pair of jeans that fit.
@korybing: Donno. Super-XXL look AS stupid as Super-snug, boys & girls, in my eye. Moderately snug looks g-o-o-d, tho. Better than moderately baggy. And way better that the first two options.
I'm glad the Age of SuperSize is dead - can I pound a stake in it?
@ZenMasterKel: Wow, the fat bashing on this comment is insane. Like so many commenters have pointed out to me in a previous thread, being "fat" doesn't equal "fat" anymore and there's many variables that go into a persons "muffin top" or "thunder thighs." You shouldn't have to not wear something you like just because you're fat.
@GuinevereRucker: I've never heard of mole people before, thanks! You learn something new every day...
@Jessica Haas: I usually get my jeans from American Eagle, which I'm thankful has still preserved most of its styles, so I'm not stuck with only skinny jeans. But I wait for them to go on sale, so if I do find that I need a new pair of jeans and American Eagle doesn't have a sale, I go into a place like H&M or Forever 21 to hold me over...their jeans are about $20 to $30. But all I keep finding are skinny jeans!
@WorldHarmony: True, and fair point.
Know what's weird? If you look at pix of snugger jeans from the '80s-'90s, they're snug in different ways than todays. Have to say, if guys are going to go snugger, today's cut jeans aren't as flattering as yesteryears. Not sure of how the cut's different, but it is.
But we stand united in our shared opinion that Neon Green as a pants color is still out? Right?!
@pecan 3.14159265: Lucky you can fit in F21 jeans. Have you tried Old Navy...? Their jeans are usually cheap, and last a helluva lot longer than jeans I've thrown down 60$ for. And I believe they only have one skinny style (named Diva.) You might wanna try the sweetheart cut.
@Jessica Haas:
I think the point is that the skinny jeans that allegedly fit ARE the ones that are compressing the nerve.
@Christian Bøggild Otte: Bootcut isn't bad, and flatters all body types collectively. If they flare too much at the bottom, they're no longer bootcut and have become flare or bellbottom style.
I'm a fan of slimmer jeans with a slight flare, because pants should balance the body. They should fit properly (not too tight, not too loose) but also should be a style that balances the lower half. If you have hips and thighs that collectively, are wider than your legs (this is the case for most people), skinny jeans will place visual emphasis on your middle and your hips, which make you look bigger than you are. If you are a size 0, and have 1% body fat, this is no big deal. If you're a size 10, this is very bad. Anyone who doesn't have slim legs, or small hips will look bad in skinny jeans.
The key is to find a slimmer pair of jeans that balances the bottom half without drawing emphasis to the hips and thighs (presumably the parts you don't want to emphasize). I get that Apple Bottom jeans are really popular with a lot of people, but they're not doing you any good unless you are aiming to draw attention to the wagon, and not looking to dress in something that fits while flatters in a modest way. Some of us want to be classy.
@ZenMasterKel: What's your problem? Are you absolutely perfect and slim in every way, or heaven forbid you actually wear a size medium shirt or have had to loosen the belt a few times in your life.
I think someone's feeling a little insecure today.
Another thing that causes this is pregnancy. That's when it first happened to my wife. I feel bad for women sometimes, then I remember I slipped a disc at work and regain my senses. Also why do women never seem to get kidney stones? What are us guys being punished for?
@Jessica Haas: I haven't stepped into an Old Navy in so long...I might try them. How different is Old Navy to Gap in terms of how they cut their pants? I can't wear Gap pants because even when I pick the right size, they are way too baggy on me. I don't think I've tried Old Navy for this precise reason.
But Gap skirts are awesome for me. I don't know why their pants are so baggy :(
@temporaryerror: Y'know, I'm not 100% on that. I know a few women who are size 8, but purposefully buy size 4-6 to get them to look tighter.
@mzs: I thought that pregnancy caused compression of the sciatic nerve, not the femoral lateral.
I assure you, women slip discs and suffer from kidney stones too. I'm not sure that means you're not being punished, though. Have you been a bad, bad boy?
@FuryOfFirestorm:
But, think about it this way - you have money for the pants because you're clearly not spending it on food!
@pecan 3.14159265: As I have a pair of both, I completely get the "Gap" baggyness. I think Old Navy's are bit tighter (not super tight, just less fabric) in the thighs/hips. As I said up there, I loooooove the sweetheart cut. Midrise, plus a small flare. Emphasis on small, as it's not bootcut, but the flare is subtle and gradual. Not gonna lie, I bought a pair of jeans from Old Navy in like 2003, they still fit even with my fluxuating weight, and the only rips/degradation is in the bottom where I walk (but who doesn't?) and a small rip in the back pocket, which I patched so it's cool. The fabric has gotten softer, but I don't consider that a bad thing since there's nothing I love more than a pair of comfortable jeans.
I think your problem is that you're shopping at H&M and F21. IMO, H&M and F21 are very "fashion forward" stores. When I say that I mean you'd be hard pressed to find anything there that isn't in style and last season. I believe their business model is something along the lines of trendy clothes for affordable prices.
Not sympathetic...I realize I'm totally open to arrest by the fashion police when I leave the house, but I don't cause myself physical injury from scary high heels and pants that are so tight you can see how far up the lady shaves :)