Hipsters beware – if you're helping a friend move house, it might pay to swap the skinny jeans for something a little less fashionable but a lot more comfortable.
An Adelaide woman has learned this lesson the hard way. A day after she spent hours squatting, emptying cupboards for a friend, she checked into hospital with weak ankles.
That evening the 35-year-old lost all feeling in her lower legs and feet, tripping over and lying on the floor for hours before she was found.
Her calves and feet were so swollen, her jeans had to be cut off.
Doctors soon found damaged muscle and nerve fibres in her legs, caused by the compression of hours of squatting, and made worse by her tight jeans. Reduced blood supply, known as compartment syndrome, had caused her muscles to swell, worsening the problem.
It took four days on an intravenous drip to restore her ability to walk.
The case is detailed in today's issue of the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.
"Previous reports of neuropathy from wearing tight jeans have been limited to lesions of the lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh, likely caused by compression of the nerve at the inguinal ligament," the authors wrote.
"The present case represents a new neurological complication of wearing tight jeans."
3 News
source: newshub archive
