Five-inch stilettos, heavy handbags, the usual for a dedicated fashionista suffering for fashion. The kind of person who buys shoes two sizes too small just because they are cute and in sale.
But when they wear a pair of super-tight skinny jeans to dinner with friends, most will notice an odd tingly sensation running up and down their thighs. And when they got up to walk around, things get weirder, a feeling of "floating," because she cannot feel her legs.
The perils of skinny jeans
The problem skin-tight denim may have caused a temporary bout of a nerve condition called meralgia paresthetica, also known as "tingling thigh syndrome." The condition can happen when constant pressure from the skin-tight denim cuts off the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, causing a numb, tingling or burning sensation along the thigh.
Typically, sufferers of the nerve condition include construction workers or police officers with heavy, low-slung belts, pregnant women or obese people; it also can result from a pulled-tight seat belt in a car accident.
But over the last few years, experts say they’ve been seeing more young women at a healthy weight complain of symptoms. The culprit: too tight skinny jeans.
The nerve, in some people, is susceptible to compression. The femoral cutaneous nerve that runs from the outside of the pelvis and through the thigh is a pure sensory nerve it doesn’t go to muscles or provide strength. Anything that is tight around there could potentially compress the nerve.
Pair those skinny jeans with a pair of sky-high heels, and the wearers risk for offending this nerve increases, add the high heel factor and increase the chance for the numbing sensation because the teetering shoes tilt the pelvis forward, increasing the pressure on the nerve.
Lets face it though this isn't the first time that denim jeans have been considered a health hazard. Take the super low-rise jeans that were fashionable in the late 90s and early 2000s they were also linked to meralgia paresthetica. And in the 1970s, rumors circulated of snug jeans causing infertility in men and yeast infections in women.. hey lets spoil the fun!
But for suffers of tingly thighs, there is little risk for permanent damage, most experts say it’s not permanent,just remove the pressure, and the nerve regenerates."
Experts say it's never been a problem to convince women suffering from numb thighs to change their fashion habits - most of them are so relieved to have found an explanation for their sudden tingles they're glad to switch to roomier pants.
But scary health tales aren’t enough to scare many fashion-conscious women from wearing their favorite skinny jeans. "It doesn't make me hesitate to wear my jeans- the same way I don't hesitate to wear the shoes I wear," is t,he typical response, it looks good, so it’s fine.
But this tingling thighs thing may be too extreme, one night of floating legs, and they may disapear in a drawer and never be worn again.
After all thre is jeggings a type of leggings made to look like super-tight jeans.
Tagged in jeans