Here’s How Skinny Jeans Are Hurting Your Health

If we had to point to an unhealthy fashion choice, we’d probably start at our feet, with sky-high heels. But a case study shows we may need to look a little higher, at the skinny jeans that have dominated the market for years.

In the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, researchers from Australia describe the case of a woman who experienced nerve damage severe enough to cause numbness and hospital care after a day of wearing skinny jeans.

The 35-year-old was helping a relative move, so she spent most of the day squatting while packing. Throughout the day, she felt her jeans get increasingly tight, until, while walking home in the evening, her feet went numb and she fell. Not able to get up, she spent several hours on the ground before she was taken to the hospital.

There, her legs and ankles had become so swollen that emergency room staff had to cut her jeans off. Her ankles and toes were weak, but the rest of her legs, including her knees and hips, were working normally.

When the doctors did studies on how her leg nerves were functioning, they found blockage of the nerve that directs the lower leg and feet. In fact, they say, any compression of the area just under knee can squeeze this nerve and cause weakness, numbness or pain by damaging this nerve. In her case, the squatting probably squashed the nerves feeding into each leg, and the skinny jeans didn’t help when the swelling started, further constricting them and crushing the nerves. After four days in the hospital with IV hydration, the bloating went down and the woman could walk again on her own.

Lesson: don’t wear skinny jeans if you’re going to do a lot of squatting or bending. They might not directly pinch the nerves in your legs but they can make the condition worse — enough to numb your feet and require several days in the hospital.