Back pain and skinny jeans, do they really cause pain?

So you may have all heard this story in the news …..

“Skinny jeans/large hoods/long sleeves/heels and asymmetric hems are bad for your back”

Link to article here

Although it is possible that some of the items of clothing may have an effect on your pain it seems counterintuitive to proclaim that we should all avoid these items.

As health care professionals we should be encouraging our patients (you guys) to get out and get moving, we shouldn’t be scaring people by making blanket statements, especially about something trivial and only one small causality in the multifactorial nature of pain.

Our backs are INCREDIBLY resistant structures that are innately strong, we may have pain (85% of us will experience back pain) but the way we respond to our pain will shape our recovery. Blaming your fashion sense, although a nice simple cause-effect link, is more likely to instil feelings of fragility in people, instead we should address the cause of the pain, followed by progressive strengthening.

Only a small percentage of “hood wearing/skinny jean toting, long sleeve” people have pain, thus these fashion items are likely not casuistic!!

Every thing in moderation guys!