Gangster-style swagger recipe for back pains

Low-slung pants and a gangster-style walk may look cool, but they are exposing teenagers to hip and back injuries.

Physiotherapists say the wide-leg walk is a factor in back and hip pain.

"Walking around with their legs wide out to their side because they have to hold their trousers up tends to influence back pain," says the Waikato chairwoman of the New Zealand Society of Physiotherapists, Audrey Bourton.

The walk, which she describes as a swagger, is a nationwide trend among teenage males wearing low-slung baggy pants that expose acres of boxer shorts.

It causes a lot of rotating in the lower back, and an abnormal swaying motion "to keep everything up", she says.

Teenagers also tend to slouch when they walk with a swagger.

The overall walk affects teenagers from the shoulder blades to the lower spine, says Miss Bourton.

It will not cause injuries by itself, but teenagers going through a growth spurt risk back problems if they walk with a wide-leg swagger.

Miss Bourton's advice to teenagers is to try to keep good posture, walk around between classes at school, and be active during lunchbreaks.


- NZPA

Herald feature: Health