The Columbus commercial., 1902-10-14
CROSSING THE LEGS.
Causes Pressure ON the Arteries
which May Resuh in Serious
Injury.

| The back of the knee, s well al the
| front of the elbow and wrist, the groin
and the armpit contains important
nerves and vessels which are not so
| well protected against direct pressure
as similar structures IN other parts of
the body. The space behind the knee,
bounded above by hamstrings, or ten
dons of the plexar muscles, and below
by the heads of the great calf muscle,
is called the popliteaI space and con-
tains two large nerves. the external
and the interna1 poplitea1 nerves,
which are the divisions of the great
scrotic, together with the large poplit-
cal artery and its vein. which carry the
blood to and from the leg. Besides
there are numerous branches supply
ing the joint, and also d number of
small Iymphatic glands. These struc-
lures are beneath the skin, embedded
in fat and connective tissue. and the
pulsation of the artery can often be
felt, while of the nerves the external
can be made out just inside the exter-
nal hamstring, says the Troy Times.
Now, it IS the pressure upon these
vessels and nerves, brought about by
improperly crossing the legs, that
often gives rise TO serious trouble.
Fortunately most of US throw the
crossing leg so far over the leg
crossed that the thigh of the first rests
well up on the other, and popliteal
space is left free. But very often the
legs are crossed in such a way that the
knee-pan of one fits accurately into
the popliteaI space of the other, thus
+ he icrh+ = 10
the vessels and nerves which it con-
tains. The leg and foot become numb
or ''go to sleep" as we say, and the
foot is seen to jerk up and down with
a definite rhythm. This means that the
nerves are compressed and the artery
is CONSTRUCTED. If the Jerking of the
foot be watched, one viii see that it
beats in time with the pulse which
means that besides the hydrostatic
pressure in the blood vessels the heart
is overcoming, to a certain degree,
the weight of the leg, and the walls of
the compressed artery are strained.
The vein. too, is CONSTRUCTED. and our
feet feel big and swollen, and the SUI
perfcial veins on the back of the leg
often stand out in black lines.
That these symptoms are unfavor-
able is beyond a doubt. A compressed |
nerve, if long subjected to such condi- |
tions, is bound to rebel. Sciatica. as
cending paralysis. chronic numbness
and cramps have often been traced di-
rectly to the pressure caused by cross
ing the legs. Many men "go lame" in
one leg, or 'have a bad knee" and it |
Is found that they very often habitu-
ally cross their legs in definite way.
Construct an artery or a vein and PEN
atty is sure and often swift. Throm-
bosis, or a blood clot in the vessel;
aneurism, or a morbid dilation of the
vessel; improper yenous return and
varicose veins, to say nothing of swol-
len feet and poorly ncurished muscles,
are some of the graver ills.
Fortunately not all or necessarily
any of these affections are inevitably
by crossing ones legs. How
ever, if the danger signals of numb
ness, swelling and jerking of the foot
appear, we may rest assured that if
long kept up we may and probably will
suffer from one or more of these
troubles.