With the oncoming colder weather, I recently discovered something strange. Despite the fact that it has warmed back up, the place where I work stayed cold. This caused me to ball up in front of my computer with my legs crossed for hours at a time while I zoned out in work mode. I’m not one to usually cross my legs at all, but I started regardless over these past few weeks. Well, I discovered recently that my left foot was acting strange. I could no longer roll it from heel to toe when I walked, nor could I lift the front part of my foot up as if I wanted to tap my toe. I was confused, and grew very concerned when I was trying so hard to lift my foot and my body was just not responding.
Since I do not have health insurance, my first step in figuring out a self-diagnoisis is to search the internet. I know that can be dangerous, but I’ve found it to be helpful in either really freaking you out, or actually helping you figure out what might be ailing you. I soon discovered a term known as “drop foot” or “slap foot” that seemed to describe exactly what I was experiencing, and one of the causes was due to temporary nerve damage from crossing your legs for long periods of time. Other causes were neurological, or diabetic in nature…those would be the freak out causes. Since I had recently noticed that I had picked up the habit of crossing my legs while working, I deduced that as the possible cause. So before I freak out and convice myself I’ve got a brain tumor or diabetes, I’ll stick with the leg-crossing theory and break my new habit to see how I fare. I’d really be bummed if my foot is defective now just because I crossed my legs to keep warm, but my self-perscribed toe tapping exercises seem to be helping.
Who knew? Leg-crossers be warned.
