Skinny jeans pose danger to health—doctors

FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012 file photo, a model walks past a window with a view of St Paul's Cathedral during the presentation of the Matthew Williamson Spring/Summer 2013 collection at London Fashion Week. Doctors in Australia report that a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized for four days after experiencing muscle damage, swelling, and nerve blockages in her legs after squatting for several hours while wearing tight-fitting denims. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
In this Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012 file photo, a model walks past a window with a view of St Paul’s Cathedral during the presentation of the Matthew Williamson Spring/Summer 2013 collection at London Fashion Week. Doctors in Australia report that a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized for four days after experiencing muscle damage, swelling, and nerve blockages in her legs after squatting for several hours while wearing tight-fitting denims. AP

 

PARIS, France – Squatting in super-tight “skinny” jeans may pose a health risk, Australian doctors warned Tuesday, reporting the case of a woman who temporarily lost feeling in her legs from an hours-long squeeze.

 

The 35-year-old collapsed and had to be hospitalised the day after helping a relative move home, spending hours on her haunches to unpack cupboards.

 

The unusual case was reported in a British specialist publication, the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

 

“She had been wearing tight ‘skinny’ jeans and recalled that these had felt increasingly tight and uncomfortable as the day wore on,” the journal said.

 

“Later that evening, she experienced numbness in her feet and found it difficult to walk, which caused her to trip and fall.

 

“Unable to get up, she spent several hours lying on the ground before she was found.”

 

The woman’s legs were so swollen that the jeans could only be removed by cutting them off, said the statement.

 

She couldn’t move her ankles or toes properly, and had lost feeling in her lower legs and feet.

 

She was put on a drip, and was able to walk normally again four days later.

 

Doctors at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia, said the jeans, combined with the squatting, had reduced blood supply to the leg muscles.

 

At the same time, nerve fibres connecting to the lower legs had been damaged by prolonged compression, which explained the numbness and loss of control.

 

“The present case represents a new neurological complication of wearing tight jeans,” they wrote.

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