What is cross-legged sit? Is crossing legs good for our health? Is it bad to cross your legs? 

Crossing our legs is a very common gesture in our society, especially among women, which we do in multiple situations: working in the office, on public transport, in the doctor’s waiting room, or simply while having a  coffee in a cafe. However, is it bad to cross your legs, or is it a myth? 

Posture tells the position of your body when you’re doing anything like standing or sitting. It shows how your spine is connected with your head, shoulders, and hips.

Let’s examine what is true and what is not in this statement and what affects cross-legged sit, especially if we (you?) suffer from CVI (Chronic Venous Insufficiency) and have varicose veins.

What happens in our bodies when we cross our legs?

Cross-legged sit has consequences for our body, as we will see below:

Is it bad to cross your legs? At the circulatory level:

• Varicose veins and Inferior vena cava (IVC): we must be clear that cross-legged sit does not cause varicose veins, but it is not a recommended position if we suffer from IVC. Movement and physical activity favor venous return, while a sedentary lifestyle and inactivity do not stimulate circulation; these are risk factors for developing or aggravating circulatory problems. It is a myth that crossing the legs causes varicose veins since it has no scientific basis, but, as we have previously mentioned, sitting for a long time (whether at work, on a long trip, etc.) can cause or aggravate the condition of IVC.

• Increased blood pressure: crossing the legs causes a temporary increase in blood pressure since this position causes more blood to rise to the heart. There is no scientific evidence that this can have serious consequences on the body, except for those at risk of blood clots. If these patients keep their legs crossed for a long time, the blood may not circulate properly, and the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) increases. On the other hand, it is recommended that people with a tendency to faint can likely maintain this position since the pressure exerted by one leg on the other causes blood to rise towards the chest and increases the amount of blood pumped by the heart. The result is that the blood supply to the head increases, which helps reduce the risk of fainting and other sort of health issues.

Is it bad to cross your legs? At joint level:

• Poor body posture: by crossing the legs, we cause a body imbalance; specifically, we cause a pelvic imbalance because we put more weight on one side of the pelvis. As a result of this poor placement, the spine also becomes misaligned. We adopt a curved posture, and muscle tension increases. If this position is maintained for a long time and regularly, we can develop muscle hypertrophy (that is, a loss of muscle tone).

• Paralysis of the common peroneal nerve (located behind the knee):  Sometimes, when we stay for a long time with our legs crossed, our legs or feet can end up falling asleep. This occurs because such a posture can pressure the peroneal nerve (located behind the knee) and cause numbness in the lower extremities. At times, the clinical picture can be complicated, and if we spend many hours in this position, paralysis of the peroneal nerve can develop. Instead of a simple temporary numbness of the legs and feet, this pathology is more serious since it prevents lifting the front part of the foot and the fingers. However, it does not usually happen because when we begin to feel uncomfortable in this posture, we change it, preventing this pathology from developing.

• Lengthening of the piriformis muscle: the piriformis muscle (located behind the hip) is lengthened, improving the stability of the pelvic joints.

What are you doing wrong when sitting down? What is the wrong posture?

Bad posture can lead to many kinds of physical problems, from back pain to pain in your temporomandibular joint, to lack of balance on overall body  and foot pronation.

To learn to sit well, we first must understand what is wrong and why so as not to continue doing it. We already stated that cross-legged sitting misaligns the spine, causing us to put more weight on one side of the body and slowing down circulation because the venous return is more difficult. 

Kyphosis is a more extreme form of forward head posture. The degree to which you’re hunched over determines the amount of pain and dysfunction you’ll experience from this misalignment.

At the joint level, it causes poor posture (with significant consequences for the back since the spine adopts an incorrect position) and causes a slight numbness in the feet and legs. Suppose we maintain this position for a long time. In that case, it can cause paralysis of the common peroneal nerve (located behind the knee), causing a permanent inability to lift the forefoot and toes. However, this way of sitting also has some benefits, such as lengthening the piriformis muscle (located behind the hip) or increasing blood supply to the head, which can help people with a tendency to faint. 

We must be attentive to how we sit and maintain good postural hygiene. However, we must not forget that unhealthy lifestyle habits (sedentary lifestyle, excess weight, poor eating habits, etc.) are more harmful to the body than crossing your legs sporadically. 

How do we avoid bad posture?

Its very normal to make yourself habitual of sitting with cross-legged without even thinking about the health risks. We spend a long time period on screen without taking a single rest or break, slouching in a chair, or carrying a heavy backpack when you walk. Or you may use repetitive motions in your workplace. Its very unhealthy and risky to our health and it may lead to spinal injury as well.

So, how can we avoid bad postures? The answer is clear, do not cross your legs. It is something obvious, but we can also take into account some more things:

Sit in a chair with a back so that our entire back is supported and we stand as straight as possible.

Bring your buttocks closer to the bottom of the chair, so it will be easier for us to rest our entire back on the backrest, and our legs will be able to rest on the entire seat.

Use footrests: the minimum elevation they give is enough for our legs to rest and thus avoid cross-legged sit.

In summary, we have seen that, in general, cross-legged sit is not highly recommended for health as it can cause some problems. At the circulatory level, it increases blood pressure and does not favor correct venous return (especially relevant if we suffer from CVI). However, it is false that it causes varicose veins. 

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