Doctors Warn: Squatting In Skinny Jeans May Lead To Nerve Damage
If you’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that there was something not quite right about the trend of encasing your lower half in skintight denim, that feeling might be justified: Researchers say squatting while wearing skinny jeans can cause not only temporary discomfort, but nerve damage as well.
Doctors in Australia report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry that a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized for four days after experiencing muscle damage, swelling, and nerve blockages in her legs.
She’d apparently been squatting for several hours in skinny jeans while helping a friend move, remaining in that position for long periods of time while emptying cupboards.
She said her pants felt increasingly tight and her feet grew numb as she walked home later, causing her to trip and fall. The unidentified woman remained on the ground for several hours, unable to get up, before finally making it to the hospital.
“We were surprised that this patient had such severe damage to her nerves and muscles,” Dr. Thomas Kimber of the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia told the Associated Press.
A CT scan of the right leg and scans of both lower legs showing “hypoattenuation and oedema of muscles of the posterior compartment of the calves, consistent with myonecrosis.”
He says tight jeans have been linked to nerve lesions in the groin before, but nothing like the nerve problems and muscle damage what he and his colleagues saw in this situation.
Squatting compresses the nerves in the lower leg, he explains, which restricts blood from getting to the calf muscles, something that’s only made worse when your legs are trapped in tight denim prisons of pain.
Get a little elastic in that fabric though, and you could be okay.
“I think it’s the non-stretchy nature of jeans that might be the problem,” he added, since having some give in tight pants means the nerves and muscles aren’t getting squeezed.
Our esteemed colleagues at Consumer Reports have been on the skinny jeans beat since 2009, warning readers back then about other health risks associated with the stylish duds.
This only further solidifies my “soft pants are the best pants” and “harem pants are healthy” fashion theories. When I say “fashion theories,” I mean I refuse to submit to a denim prison of society’s making.
Fashion victim: rhabdomyolysis and bilateral peroneal and tibial neuropathies as a result of squatting in ‘skinny jeans [Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry]
Doctors warn against dangers of skinny jeans: Don’t squat [Associated Press]
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.
