May 21, 2012
Weather

A Few Clouds

62°
Conditions at Colorado Springs, CO
Save Email Print Bookmark and Share
A A
Reporter: KKTV Email

Women Coming Down With The Tight Jean Syndrome?

Here's a fashion warning: high heels and super-sized purses may look great, but doctors say these styles are wreaking havoc on women's backs and feet.

Now, add skinny jeans to the list. But, this spring and summer fashion editors say when it comes to pants, skinny is in.

"Skinny jeans obviously. There's also leggings. You have treggings, which I happen to like because it's a cross between a trouser and a legging," said Self magazine senior fashion market editor Lindsay Taylor Huggins.

But this trend may be creating a whole new crop of fashion victims suffering from ...

"The tight jean syndrome," neurologist Dr. Betty Mintz said.

Mintz said constant pressure from tight pants can injure a nerve in the thigh. When compressed it causes mild to excruciating pain.

"There are people who come in and say it is absolutely the most horrible pain imaginable," Mintz said.

"I was literally dragging my leg for a while so the pain would stop," added Christina Crane.

Crane, 22, said she's worn low-rise rise jeans for six years before getting her diagnosis and now takes anti-seizure medicine to control her symptoms.

"The jeans are always resting on my hip and I know that's where the initial pain begins is from the pelvis, that nerve there," Crane said.

Firefighters, construction workers and police officers more typically suffer from "tingling thigh syndrome" because they wear heavy, low slung belts, and pregnant or obese women because of leg pressure. But more young women are now developing symptoms.

"Certainly, the tight jeans could predispose more skinny, young women to developing this," Dr. Mintz said.

"I couldn't do anything. I couldn't walk on it. It just hurt so bad," Crane said.

Crane has since tossed her skinny jeans, but will other women do the same?

"I still don't think women are going to give up their jeans. Beauty is pain," Huggins said.

Doctors said the pain is the most intense when the condition first starts, but the problem can persist through a patient's lifetime and treated only with pain medication.

This is not the first time blue jeans have been called a health hazard. In the 1970s rumors circulated of snug jeans causing infertility in men and infections in women.


powered by Disqus

Live Traffic Conditions


Follow Me on Pinterest

KKTV Latest Blogs

FIT LIFE: Toughest Sport on Earth

Updated: 05/18/12 - Hanging on for dear life. It takes on a whole new meaning when you’re riding a bucking bull 10 times your size. But that’s just another day at the office for PBR star Austin Meier. Here’s how he lives a FIT LIFE: Read More