Don’t Sit on Your Wallet

If you’re in the habit of sitting on a wallet that you normally carry around in your back pocket you may well be inadvertently increasing your risk of developing back pain, neck pain, sciatica and similar types of spinal difficulty. 

This is because sitting on a wallet – some of which can be more than an inch thick – is effectively like placing a wedge under one side of your pelvis. This has the potential to cause it to become unbalanced, and can undermine its ability to provide the stable foundation it is meant to provide for the rest of your spine.

With time your spine will change its patterns of function to try to adapt to this pelvic imbalance, but in doing so these spinal changes can cause other issues to arise, including back pain, neck pain, headaches, and even issues with the hips knees, or lower limb.

The bottom line is that our bodies are constantly moulded by the ways in which we habitually use them, and simple changes in our habits can make a big difference to the way our body functions for good or for ill. Seen in this context, people who spend a lot of time sitting on a thick wallet crammed into the back pocket of their trousers are ultimately doing themselves as much of a disservice as ladies who carry a heavy, oversized handbag constantly slung across the same shoulder, day after day, and week after week, month after month.

And – of course – the ultimate irony can be that even though you (or your employer) may have gone to great lengths to ensure that you’re sitting properly on a really great chair at an ergonomically state of the art work station, that wallet in your back pocket could be undermining everything you’re trying to do to help yourself maintain healthy spinal function.

The solution is simple – find a better place for your wallet. The breast pocket of your coat, one of the front pockets of your trousers, a trendy ‘man bag’, or whatever – just don’t sit on your wallet.