Why sitting cross-legged can be bad for you

Are you sitting comfortably?

Stop for a moment, stay where you are, and notice your posture.

How are your legs?

Crusades?

Which one is on top: the right or the left?

About 62% of people cross their right leg over their left, 26% do the opposite, and 12% have no preference.

Normally, there are two ways to sit on a chair and cross your legs: one at the knees, and the other at the ankles.

But as comfortable as it is to sit cross-legged, is it bad for your health and posture?

Let's take a look at the tests.

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For starters, studies show that sitting cross-legged can accentuate hip misalignment, so that one side is higher than the other.

In addition, it alters the speed at which blood circulates through the blood vessels of the lower extremities, which could increase the risk of clot formation.

Most studies indicate that crossing the legs at the knees is more harmful than crossing them at the ankles.

In fact, sitting with your knees crossed can cause a rise in blood pressure because the blood accumulates in the veins and the heart has to work to avoid it.

Which would increase the risk of deterioration of blood vessels.

For this reason, when taking the tension, you must have your feet with the soles resting on the ground.

Effects on the body

The longer and more often you sit cross-legged, the more likely you are to eventually experience changes in the length of the muscles and the arrangement of the pelvic bones.

Additionally, due to the way the skeleton articulates, crossing the legs can also cause misalignment of the spine and shoulders.

The position of the head can lose its correct alignment due to changes in the neck bones, as the spine compensates to keep the center of gravity vertical to the pelvis.

The neck can also be affected, since one side of the body is weaker than the other.

The same imbalance can be seen in the muscles of the pelvis and lower back as a result of poor posture and the stresses and pressures caused by sitting cross-legged.

Also, a deterioration in the alignment of the pelvis can occur due to the weakening of the gluteal muscles, the buttocks, on one side due to their prolonged stretching.

Sitting cross-legged for a long time increases the chance of scoliosis (abnormal alignment of the spine) and other deformities.

Another possible consequence is the pain syndrome of the greater trochanter, a fairly common annoying condition that affects the outer side of the hip and thigh.

Studies also show that sitting cross-legged can carry a risk of compression and injury to the peroneal nerve—also known as the fibular nerve—in the lower leg.

Weakness when trying to lift the little toe is one of its characteristic manifestations.

Another more worrisome is foot drop, in which the entire limb dangles, although in most cases the episode is brief, and the foot returns to normal in a matter of minutes.

Crossing your legs can affect sperm production, since the temperature of the testicles has to be between 2 and 6 degrees below body temperature.

We also have evidence that crossing the legs can affect sperm production.

The cause is that the temperature of the testicles has to be between 2 and 6 degrees below normal body temperature.

Sitting increases this temperature by 2°C, and crossing your legs can raise it up to 3.5°C.

In addition, some studies indicate that increasing the temperature of the scrotum or testicles can cause both the quantity and quality of sperm to decrease.

Another fact worth noting is that due to the differences between male and female anatomy, women probably find it much easier to sit cross-legged, particularly because of the range of motion of the leg. men's hip is smaller.

legs and joints

However, research indicates that sitting cross-legged may be beneficial for some people.

A 2016 study with a small sample, for example, found that for those with one leg longer than the other, the pose can help adjust the height of the sides of the pelvis, thus improving its alignment.

Cross-legged sitting also appears to reduce the activity of some muscles, particularly the obliques (located under the skin where your hands rest on your hips) more than sitting with your legs up. forward.

This can help relax your trunk muscles and prevent overexertion.

Lotus pose in yoga.Pexels/Rf Studio

Along these same lines, there is evidence that sitting cross-legged improves the stability of the sacroiliac joints (responsible for transferring weight between the spine and the legs).

And, of course, in the famous yoga or meditation posture (lotus position), the person sits cross-legged on the floor.

However, we have little data on whether sitting for long periods of time in this position can cause some of the problems that sitting cross-legged in a chair does.

In fact, yoga brings tremendous benefits to many people, including those with knee problems.

What is the verdict, then?

It's probably best to avoid crossing your legs if you can.

That said, many of the risk factors associated with such a posture are likely to be compounded by other underlying burdens, such as a sedentary lifestyle and obesity.

With this in mind, the main advice is not to sit still in the same position for too long and to be active frequently.

Adam Taylor

This article was originally published on

Translation by NewsClip.

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