Rapid inspection, please put down your Erlang legs!
You must be crossing Erlang’s legs right now? Why can’t we keep our legs crossed?
The reason is simple! Cool!
(Source: giphy)
Cut legs can adjust the body’s center of gravity, maintain balance, and sit up more comfortably and steadily. And, when you cross your legs, you can temporarily relax the muscles of the lower limbs and the soles of the feet, making the muscle groups more relaxed.
For women, crossing Erlang’s legs can prevent embarrassment and avoid embarrassment; for men, crossing Erlang’s legs looks more elegant (of course, it is still a face).
So, it’s cool to cross your legs for a while, and it’s always cool to cross your legs all the time?
In fact, there are different opinions on the Internet about the dangers of crossing Erlang’s legs: what will cause high blood pressure, varicose veins, affect reproductive health, etc…
1. Cross-legged affects reproductive health?
There is currently no evidence that crossing one’s legs affects fertility.
When the legs are crossed, the heat dissipation of the inner thigh and the perineum decreases, and the heat production increases, resulting in a local temperature rise.
The normal body temperature of the human body is 37°C, and the optimal temperature for the testis to produce sperm is about 35°C. When the temperature exceeds 37 ℃, it will inhibit the production of sperm.
From this point of view, the local temperature rise caused by crossing Erlang’s legs may affect male reproductive health, but there is currently no evidence to support it, and occasionally crossing the legs will not cause much impact.
For women, cross-legs do not cause the same problems as men, but it is also said that “female cross-legs can cause local temperature increases, creating a warm and humid environment, promoting bacterial growth, increasing risk of gynecological diseases”. In fact, there is no literature report to confirm that crossing Erlang’s legs is related to gynecological diseases.
2. Does crossing your legs cause high blood pressure?
The increase in blood pressure is only temporary.
In 2010, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing[1] found that when blood pressure was measured, if patients crossed their legs at the knee, blood pressure significantly increased.
Another study[2] published in the Journal of Hypertension also found that blood pressure increased slightly when participants crossed their legs.
However, although these studies support the claim that cross-legs will increase blood pressure, blood pressure is only temporarily raised. There is currently no evidence that often cross-legs can lead to high blood pressure or even high blood pressure. Harmful to the heart.
However, for safety reasons, people with high blood pressure should try to avoid crossing their legs for long periods of time.
3. Will crossing your legs cause varicose veins?
There is no evidence that crossing your legs can cause varicose veins.
Lower extremity varicose veins, commonly known as “earthworm legs”, are mainly manifested as bulging blue veins that crawl all over the calf like earthworms. Standing or sitting for long periods of time may increase your risk of varicose veins, but there is no evidence that crossing your legs has the same effect.
But if you already suffer from varicose veins or edema of the lower extremities, crossing your legs will make the condition worse and should be avoided as much as possible.
The real danger of crossing Erlang’s legs is that it is easy to cause dislocation of the pelvis and lumbar vertebrae, and then cause low back and leg pain.
Long-term unilateral swaying of Erlang’s legs is the same as long-term one-shoulder bag and side-to-side use of the computer.
When a person lifts Erlang’s legs, the pelvis is tilted to one side and twisted, and the connected lumbar vertebrae are also twisted. Over time, it is easy to cause dislocation of the pelvis and lumbar vertebrae, compressing the nerves and causing low back and leg pain. .
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
This is also likely to cause uneven stress on the lumbar intervertebral disc for a long time, resulting in accelerated degeneration and increased fragility of the intervertebral disc.Using it can easily lead to lumbar disc herniation, which may require surgery in severe cases.
Crossing the legs may also cause the pelvis and spine to rotate, and the muscles on one side may stretch abnormally, resulting in unilateral lumbar muscle strain and low back pain.
Focus! Sitting with your legs crossed day after day can easily cause:
1. Pain in the waist and hips, and even cause symptoms such as neck and back discomfort.
2. The pelvis is skewed and the feet are long and short.
3. Severe cases will lead to easy lumbar disc herniation.
Not only that, but uneven shoulders and backs, tilted pelvis, high and low shoulders, and a series of harms that reduce the appearance of the face will also follow. I ask you if you are afraid!
So, how should we sit?
Many of us spend most of the day sitting in front of a computer and the correct posture should be:
1. When sitting on the chair, the thighs should be flush with the seat, or slightly lower than the seat, and the feet should be flat on the ground. If the height is higher or lower, please adjust Seat height. Ensure that both the knee and hip joints are ≥90°.
2. If the chair cannot be adjusted to the correct height, use a footrest or pedal.
3. The spine should be parallel to the back of the chair, and the back of the chair should be slightly inclined at an angle of about 100-110°, so that the back can be effectively supported when sitting and working.
Of course, no matter how upright you are, sitting for long periods of time can still hurt your body! While ensuring the correct sitting posture, timely getting up and moving is the most important thing!
In short, crossing Erlang’s legs is actually not as scary as everyone thinks. For healthy people, it generally does not cause too serious impact. Occasionally relax, crossing Erlang’s legs is not a big deal. .
But try to develop a good habit of not crossing Erlang’s legs. If you really can’t quit, you must pay attention not to cross it for a long time. It’s best to put your legs on the cross and get up and move around. In addition, people who already have problems such as high blood pressure, varicose veins in the lower extremities, low back discomfort, and deep vein thrombosis should avoid crossing their legs.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
Reviewer: Shen Tong| Deputy Chief Physician of Rehabilitation Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University
References
[1] Pinar R, Ataalkin S, Watson R. The effect of crossing legs on blood pressure in hypertensive patients. J Clin Nurs. 2010 May;19(9-10):1284- 8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.03148.x.
[2]Michelle van Velthoven;TheoThien;SuzanneHolewijn;Gert van der Wilt;JaapDeinum.The effect of crossing legs on blood pressure.Journal of Hypertension.28(7):1591C1592, JULY 2010DOI : 10.1097/HJH.0b013e32833926db