Why wearing skinny jeans is bad for you

Skinny jeans could be bad for your health, particularly if you squat in them, a new study has found.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, Australian doctors have recounted the case of a 35-year-old woman who collapsed and spent several hours lying on the ground outside, unable to move, before spending four days in hospital while wearing a pair.

She'd been helping a relative move house and had spent "many hours" squatting while emptying cupboards.

Later that evening she experienced numbness in her feet and found it difficult to walk, which made her trip and fall.

She'd lost feeling in her lower legs and feet and her calves were so swollen that hospital staff had to cut her free from the jeans. Doctors found she had damaged the muscle and nerve fibres in her lower legs.

She'd been suffering from what is known as compartment syndrome - reduced blood supply to the leg muscles - more often caused by wearing tight bandages.

The present case represents a new neurological complication of wearing tight jeans.

• University of Adelaide researchers

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