Fashion victim: woman hospitalized after squatting in skinny jeans

Wearing tight-fitting skinny jeans could be hazardous to your health, that is if you also squat for extensive periods while wearing a pair.

The latest edition of the Journal of Neuology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry highlights a case of a 35-year-old Australian woman who spent four days in hospital after she experienced swelling, nerve and muscle fibre damage.

According to the paper, written by doctors at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia, the woman was helping a friend move, which included long periods of squatting in order to empty cupboards.

When she walked home, she experienced numbness in her feet and had difficulty with walking. The condition eventually caused her to trip and fall; she spent hours outside on the ground as she was unable to get up.

The woman was found by passersby hours later and rushed to hospital. When she received medical attention, her calves had become severely swollen to the extent that doctors had to cut off the jeans in order to free her legs. She had lost her feeling in the lower parts of her legs, including the ability to move her ankles and toes.

Fortunately, her condition did not lead to permanent paralysis or any permanent nerve damage as she received the treatment she required.

Doctors later concluded that the tightness of her jeans prevented her calves from expanding outward, forcing the muscles to instead compress inward onto the nerves. CT scans also indicated her calves were swollen with fluid and that there were signs of the early stages of dying muscle tissue.

The ‘fashion victim’ has made a full recovery and is now walking again. It is not known whether the woman still wears skinny jeans, but she has likely learned the health hazards of squatting in them.