Poshitis – When fashion becomes a health hazard, Victoria Beckham style

Carrying a hand bag? Do not bend it like this Beckham!

Celebrities go to extreme lengths to look perfect at all times. The fashion police ensure they do so. Looking anything less than good is a crime if you are a celebrity. To top it, you have to be a trend-setter too, as people all over the world are closely following your every move and aping it!

The latest trend to have caught the attention of fashionistas and the medical world too is Poshitis.
It is named after Victoria Beckham’s supersized handbags and her style of carrying it.

Carrying oversized bags is a clever trick to hide the extra flab, especially if you carry it the way Victoria does, by crooking the straps in the elbows. This is one trend that has been lapped up by women all over the world. Carrying big bags will take the attention off from your flabby legs! Easy way out!

According to the results of a 2010 survey, titled 'What's In My Handbag', researchers found that the average woman's handbag weighs about 23 pounds i.e. 10.5 kg. That is almost the weight of a 15-month-old toddler! Ideally, your handbag shouldn't weight more than 10 per cent of your body weight.

(Box )Courtesy-Times of India

What needs to be taken into account here is the fact this style may be potentially damaging to your hand. Big bags come with big weights, at times as much as 1kg or more. The elbow is designed to be a free moving joint and not a hook to carry heavy things. Carrying bags the way Victoria does leads to repetitive strain injury to the shoulders and elbow and causes pain in the neck. Huge handbags like Victoria’s leads to inflammation of tendons and muscles to tear. Moreover, muscle pull, severe backache, and difficulty in sleeping can be attributed to Poshitis.

With doctors over the world seeing more and more patients suffering from neck pain that can be attributed to Victoria’s way of carrying her bag, they have aptly named it as Poshitis.

Following fashion trends is fine. Copying it blindly and ignoring the grimace that it brings to your face is not fine.

Think twice before you buy a big bag and stuff it with all those handbag essentials. Beauty can come at the cost of your health, especially if you carry your handbag the way Posh Spice does.