What do crossed legs say? Is it possible to sit cross-legged during pregnancy: why pregnant women should not put them one on top of the other

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How do you usually sit? Many people like to sit with one foot crossed. Does such a pose threaten our health, the correspondent figured out.

In the 1980s, British comedian Kenny Everett made this pose his trademark - he sat in a skirt and high heels, extravagantly crossing, crossing and then crossing his legs again. This, he said, was a manifestation of "the best possible style."

Others prefer not to cross their legs at all - to the point of sitting in a squat, like men who spread their legs wide on public transport and at the same time crush their neighbors.

Such men would love the entertaining ad campaign The Great Cross-Out ("Great Cross-Out"), which was launched in the US in 1999. The nutritional supplement company urged people to give up the cross-legged position and thus maintain their health.

But is it possible to become healthier by giving up crossing your legs?

The list of alleged side effects of cross-legged sitting includes high blood pressure, varicose veins and nerve damage.

However, all these assumptions need to be carefully studied.

Of course, this is true - if you sit in one position for too long, your leg or foot may become numb.

It is said that crossed legs can distort the measurement result by temporarily increasing the level of pressure.

This is due to the fact that with crossed legs, pressure increases on the peroneal nerve under the knee (it is responsible for the sensitivity in the lower leg and foot). But the prickly sensation in the numb limb will be temporary and will quickly pass as soon as you take a different position.

However, maintaining the same posture for many hours can cause peroneal nerve palsy. It manifests itself in "foot drop", in which people cannot lift the back of the foot and toes.

There are two possible reasons why crossing your legs can lead to a temporary increase in blood pressure.

According to one of them, blood rushes to the chest at the moment when you lift one leg to throw it over the other. As a result, the heart has to pump more blood, and the pressure rises.

According to an alternative version, blood pressure rises due to the fact that isometric exercises on the legs (the so-called physical exercises in which the joints do not move) increase the resistance to blood flow in the vessels.

This explains why crossing the legs at the ankles does not lead to increased pressure.

To figure out which of these explanations is most likely, scientists from the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands conducted a study that included several physiological measurements.

It turned out that the resistance to blood flow in the vessels in people with crossed legs did not increase with a low pulse, but the amount of blood flowing from the heart itself increased.

Thus, the rising blood pressure was due to the crossed legs pushing the blood towards the heart.

So crossing your legs does lead to a temporary increase in blood pressure, but there is no evidence of long-term changes.

But there is one exception. People at high risk of blood clots are advised not to sit cross-legged for long periods of time, as obstruction of normal blood flow can increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis.

While crossing your legs may not increase your blood pressure in the long run, what about varicose veins?

The reasons why some people have varicose veins and others do not still remain somewhat of a mystery.

A study found that people who sat cross-legged for more than three hours a day were more likely to slouch

To prevent blood from flowing backwards, there are tiny valves in the blood vessels. If these valves stretch and weaken, there is an outflow of blood, which leads to enlarged veins, or, as it is also called, varicose veins.

So far, it has not been proven that crossing the legs is a decisive factor for the appearance of varicose veins. Whether or not your veins grow over the years depends on your genetic predisposition (at least to some extent).

So, the condition of the veins, blood pressure and nerves from sitting cross-legged does not worsen in the long term.

It remains to understand only the effect of such a landing on the joints.

One study found that people who sat cross-legged for more than three hours a day were more likely to slouch.

However, in this study, people were asked to self-assess how long they sat cross-legged.

I am writing this text at the table, also cross-legged, but I would not be able to say exactly how many hours I spent in this position.

How do you like to sit in a chair? Many people prefer to cross their legs. Others try not to do it at all. There are people who even in public transport sit with their legs wide apart, while their neighbors on both sides have to somehow fit on the seat. Perhaps these people still remember the advertising campaign that was launched in 1999 in the United States. The supplement company urged people not to cross their legs at all during the day, because this way they could maintain their health.

But is it true that people who don't cross their legs are healthier than those who do? And should we follow their lead? If you sit too long with your legs crossed, then this threatens with a whole list of unpleasant consequences. These are thought to include high blood pressure, varicose veins, and even nerve damage. But is it really so?

Can nerves be harmed?

Of course, you yourself know that if you spend too much time cross-legged, then soon they begin to go numb. This is because when you cross your legs, pressure increases on the peroneal nerve, which is located behind the knee. It is responsible for the sensitivity of the lower legs and feet.

If you sit in this position for a very long time, you risk getting a condition called peroneal nerve palsy. In this case, you will not be able to lift the forefoot and toes. However, when researchers from South Korea examined many patients in order to identify the main causes of this condition, it turned out that crossing the legs is not the most common of them. More often this happens when people sit on the floor in a Turkish way for several hours. In fact, sitting cross-legged is unlikely to cause this condition too often, as most people start moving when they feel uncomfortable.

Consequences for blood pressure

But what about blood pressure? When you need to check it, the doctor or nurse will usually ask you to straighten your arm and place your feet flat on the floor. There is concern that crossed legs can skew the reading by causing a short-term increase in blood pressure. By 2010, seven studies had been conducted that confirmed this concern, while other studies showed that it did not really matter. However, many of these studies were small and measurements were taken only once.

One of the largest studies was carried out in Istanbul. The researchers took several measurements when the patients crossed their legs and when they sat upright. Again, blood pressure was higher when the patients crossed their legs, but it returned to its previous level three minutes after the legs were in the normal position. The greatest increase in blood pressure occurred in those people who previously faced the problem of high pressure.

Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain why crossing the legs may cause an increase in blood pressure. According to one of them, crossing the legs leads to the fact that the amount of blood pumped by the heart increases. According to an alternative explanation, isometric leg muscle exercises increase the stability of the blood that passes through the vessels. This may explain why crossing the legs at the ankles rather than the knees does not have the same effect.

Thus, crossing the legs at the knees does cause a short-term increase in blood pressure. There are no long-term health problems, except for one thing: people with a high risk of blood clots are not advised to cross their legs for a long time, as they are at risk of deep vein thrombosis.

Can varicose veins be provoked?

But even if crossing the legs doesn't have any serious effects on blood pressure, what about varicose veins? The reasons why some people suffer from this condition are not a mystery. Normally, tiny valves in blood vessels prevent blood from flowing backwards. But if they become too loose or stretched, the veins dilate. However, crossing the legs is not directly related to this condition. And if you've been diagnosed with varicose veins, part of it may be due to genetics.

Is it possible to harm the joints?

And how does cross-legging affect our joints? One study found that people who sat in this position for more than three hours a day were more likely to lean forward and round their shoulders. However, the study was based not only on the feelings of people and their own assessments. A later study published this year found that if people were instructed to sit up straight, the problem was overcome. Of course, whether this will continue when there is no researcher standing over you is a moot point.

So if you like to sit cross-legged, then you are unlikely to do yourself any harm by doing this, of course, if you do not wait until your legs are numb. But someone sitting next to you on a train or bus will be more grateful if you cross your legs rather than spread them wide apart.

This is impossible, this is impossible - such warnings are addressed to expectant mothers, both from doctors and relatives. You need to listen to advice, especially since 9 months is not such a long time for restrictions if they have a noble goal. But a pregnant woman should not just listen, but also know why certain things should not be done. For example, why is it not recommended to sit cross-legged. What does it threaten and is it so serious? Let's figure it out.

Crossing the legs of a pregnant woman and varicose veins

The onset of pregnancy is always a change in a woman's body. With the bearing of a child, many taboos appear in the behavior of a woman. One of them is the ban on sitting in your favorite position cross-legged. Earlier, in the time of our grandmothers, this was explained by the fact that a child can be born with twisted legs or clubfoot. But from a medical point of view, the crooked legs of the baby are more likely to be explained by a deficiency of vitamin D (ergocalciferol) and rickets, but by no means the mother's position with crossed legs during pregnancy. By the way, a similar prejudice applied to the tight swaddling of a child. Like, not bandaging the legs over the diaper with a special tape leads to the formation of crooked legs of the child. Of course, this is more of a prejudice, a tribute to tradition.

But there is a reasonable explanation for the taboo on crossing the legs while sitting by a pregnant woman. In this position, they simply pinch on her lower limbs. This threatens a pregnant woman with the appearance, especially in cases where there is a genetic predisposition to this. Varicose veins always contribute to stagnation of blood in the legs and, as a result, swelling. Varicose veins threaten and those that lead to the formation of blood clots. This is already a threat of bearing a child. Therefore, when identifying symptoms of varicose veins in the legs, you need to wear special knitwear with a compression action, and regularly perform exercises to improve blood flow in the limbs. You also need to lie down more often, while raising your legs above your head. You can just put them on pillows. This will promote the outflow of blood from the legs and reduce the likelihood of thrombosis.

What else threatens a pregnant woman with a cross-legged position?

In addition, the cross-legged posture impairs blood circulation in the pelvic organs, and this negatively affects the development of the unborn child. In particular, the deterioration of blood circulation can lead to intrauterine hypoxia. At short stages of pregnancy, this leads to abnormalities in the development of the fetus, and at later stages - to.

Even prolonged sitting in this position is harmful to the spine. Pregnancy very often shifts the center of gravity of a woman's body and increases the load on the spinal muscles. This feature is manifested by osteochondrosis and pain.

Some doctors believe that it is especially dangerous to stay in a cross-legged position in late pregnancy, that is, starting from. This is explained by the fact that in such a mother's position, the head of the child may not be positioned correctly, because of this, pain occurs in the pubic area. But it should be borne in mind that in the later stages it is not so convenient to sit in this position: the tummy gets in the way!

Psychologists say that crossing arms and legs is a kind of protection for a person from negative external influences. That is, in this way we, without knowing it ourselves, protect ourselves from envy, evil people, bad thoughts, negativity directed at us consciously or involuntarily. But such protection is not suitable for a pregnant woman, it is better to wear a pectoral cross. And by and large, if you have to sit for a long time, then the position of the legs should be changed: stretch them out, put them on toes, connect your knees, put them behind the legs of a chair. And if you, sitting on a chair, take a cross-legged position for 20-30 seconds, then nothing terrible will happen during this time. Listen to all the recommendations without fanaticism! Well, that has a measure!

Specially for Elena TOLOCHIK

We often hear about the fact that you can’t cross your legs from doctors, and from older people, and from those who are fond of esotericism. Despite this, absolutely all people cross their legs in one way or another, not considering that this can cause any harm. In fact, there is some truth in this ban from both a medical and an energy point of view. How do doctors explain it?

Why you can't cross your legs

When you sit with one foot on the other, the veins of the supporting leg suffer from the heaviness of the upper leg: they are pinched, they cannot fully work, so the outflow of venous blood is disturbed. The result is an expansion of the veins, stretching and thinning of its walls. Therefore, you can not cross your legs for a long time and very often, if you do not want to eventually earn an unpleasant disease - varicose veins. Even more dangerous in this regard is a position where a person sits on legs crossed under him, since in this position the blood flow in both legs is disturbed. And even if you don't do it often, you still run the risk of pain and swelling in your legs. With prolonged sitting cross-legged, there are often leg cramps.

And if for a healthy, mobile person everything is not so scary, then pregnant women should definitely not cross their legs in any case. Their risk of developing varicose veins increases due to the increasing load, so it is not worth provoking the disease once again. In addition, the circulatory system of a pregnant woman must work for two, providing oxygen not only to herself, but also to the child. And it is difficult for the heart to pump blood through the squeezed vessels. As a result, the blood entering the body of the fetus contains an insufficient amount of oxygen, and it begins to suffer from oxygen starvation.

Esotericism has its own explanation for the fact that you can not cross your legs. It is believed that any living being, including humans, has its own energy, aura. Some people have the ability to see or feel it, to determine diseases and even a person’s thoughts with the help of these sensations. Energy can be stored in our body if we close the circuit - move our legs together and put our hands on our stomach. But crossed legs break this circuit, and the energy begins to flow away. Believe this explanation or not - it's up to you. But even if we take into account only the physiological side of the issue, it becomes clear that crossing your legs is really very undesirable.