By habit, by desire for elegance or simply because we appreciate this position, there are undoubtedly several reasons pushing us to sit cross-legged.
However, this habit has many faults, as indicated by Professor Adam Taylor, director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Center at Lancaster University (United Kingdom), in an article published on the site The Conversation (Source 1).
For starters, the cross-legged position at the knees might increase hip misalignment, and changes the speed at which blood moves in the blood vessels of the lower limbs, which would increase blood pressure. In finethis might increase the risk of blood clots, warns the specialist. Crossing the legs at the knees would be worse than crossing them at the ankles, because of this increase in blood pressure.
Long-term effects on the skeleton
But what’s less well known is that crossing your legs regularly has long-term health effects,” in the length of the muscles and the arrangement of the bones in your pelvis “, assures the specialist in anatomy. “ And due to the way your skeleton is linked, leg crossing can also lead to misalignment of the spine and shoulders “, he warns once more.
One thing leading to another, crossing the legs might thus lead to a misalignment of the head, because spine “ compensates » to keep our center of gravity above the pelvis. The latter can also be misaligned by the use of this cross-legged position, “ due to prolonged stretching of the gluteal (gluteal) muscles on one side, which means that they become weaker “, warns Professor Taylor.
Regularly crossing your legs would increase the risk of scoliosis and other deformities, and might also cause Greater Trochanter Pain Syndrome (GTSD), a condition that affects the outer side of the hip and thigh.
Furthermore, in humans, the sitting position with the legs crossed might interfere with sperm production (spermatogenesis), because the temperature of the testicles is increased by 2°C by the crossing of the legs. However, the testicular temperature must be 2 to 6°C lower than that of the body for optimal sperm production.
The anatomy professor brings a slight nuance to these elements: for people with one leg shorter than the other, sitting cross-legged might help adjust the height of both sides of the pelvis, thus improving its alignment. Sitting like this would improve the stability of the sacroiliac joints, responsible for transferring weight between the spine and the legs.
In conclusion, the anatomy professor believes that it is “ probably best to avoid crossing your legs “, keeping in mind that the best is still not to sit too long in the same position, and to remain active as much as possible.
