Habits – Seven good habits to avoid back pain. Habit 3

3 - Crossing legs – Men and women both like crossing their legs. Crossing your legs at the ankles causes no real anomaly in the spine that I am aware of, but crossing your legs at the knees causes large pelvic distortions and compensation throughout the lower back and entire spine as a result.  As with handbags, while it is not great to cross your legs at all, many people find it comfortable and if you are one of these, then an easy thing to do is swap sides from time to time.  This avoids the tendency of the body to ‘grow into the habit’, ie, accepting this distortion as normal.  Try it as an experiment now; cross your legs the opposite way to how you normally would.  If it feels weird then chances are you have already developed the opposite distortion.