There is a particular news story that I can’t get out of my head. It was only ever a quirky, slightly comical story but I can’t help but think it’s part of a slightly bigger issue.
The story of a lady temporarily paralysed because her jeans were too tight appeared in the news in June of this year.
Now I am not concerned about what people wear but when people cannot move properly this does concern me – and it should concern them too.
It is not ideal to awkwardly shuffle about while wearing restrictive clothing, but if you limit movement too frequently, you will end up limiting movement permanently by creating poor movement patterns.
The end result is a stiffer and awkwardly moving body, with or without jeans. So while the skinny jeans may go out of fashion, they may leave their mark on our muscles and joints.
In relation to back pain – if you stiffen up your legs with tight jeans then your spine naturally compensates by moving excessively and increasing the likelihood of poor lifting habits.
Of course it’s not just about skinny jeans, lots of clothing can be very restrictive, in fact our culture and British history is marked by our sartorial standards, stiff collars, corsets, thick leather shoes, all wonderful refinery but coffins for our bodies.
What’s the answer?
Lets discuss…