BBC News reports that the 35-year-old woman had to be cut out of her skinny jeans that she had been wearing for hours while helping a friend move. Dr. Thomas Kimber notes in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry that the hours of squatting and kneeling caused her calves to balloon in size, eventually leaving her feet numb and making it difficult to walk.

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“As she was squatting for a long period of time, her trousers restricted the blood supply to both calves, and in response the muscles start to undergo stress and swell,” Kimber wrote.

Doctors believe the woman developed compartment syndrome, a potentially serious condition caused by bleeding or swelling within an enclosed bundle of muscles. Nerve damage and muscle damage can follow.

After spending four days in the hospital, the woman has recovered. Kimber says tight pants with more elasticity wouldn't be as dangerous since they don't squeeze nerves and muscles quite as much.

So if  you're thinking of trading in your tight jeans for sweatpants now, doctors say it's unnecessary. You can still wear skinny jeans, just try to avoid activities what require a lot of squatting while wearing them.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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