Causes and solutions for numbness in the legs when playing the guitar with crossed legs

Hello!
My name is Takuto Fujioka, and I am a "guitarist with a good posture". I changed the name to make it clearer. Lol

It's getting colder, but how are you doing?

I wrote an article about sitting posture in the past.
Today, as the title suggests, I would like to consider and share "Causes and solutions for numbness in your legs when you play the guitar with crossed legs"!

“Why are my legs numb?”
As you can imagine, in a nutshell, pressure on the nerves causes numbness.
But which nerve is being compressed and numb?
I think that the symptoms and degree of the symptoms for each person will change depending on the posture of the crossed legs, how the legs are crossed, and the position where the weight is applied.

This time, I thought about how to deal with each symptom, so if you get numbness in your legs due to sitting cross-legged, please try these out!
Well, I'm looking forward to working with you!

1. The hip adductor muscle is stiff

The flexibility of the hip joint is important for cross-legged posture.
Hip flexion, and abduction are required to take a cross-legged posture. At this time, the muscles that move the hip joint inward, such as the adductor longus muscle and the adductor longus muscle, are pulled. If the hip adductor muscle itself is stiff, it is possible that the muscle is compressing a nerve when pulled! In this case, it’s like the stiff muscles themselves are compressing the nerves, rather than the nerves being directly compressed.
The nerve that causes the legs to become numb is the sciatic nerve. Isn't it a name you may have heard before?

If the inner muscles (red line) are stiff, a gap (red circle) will be created below the knee.

Are your knees floating in the air when you sit with your legs crossed?
In such a case, first try massaging and stretching the adductor muscles!

2. The foot itself is pressing a nerve

The sciatic nerve, calf to ankle, and the peroneal nerve pass through the thigh, so if pressure is applied to this area, the foot will become numb.
In this case, it can be improved by reviewing your cross-legged posture.

The foot is pressing a nerve under the red circle. Numbness occurs when it’s pressed for a long time.

“Find the best cross-legged posture!”

Adjusting the position of your feet can reduce nerve pressure.
As shown in the photo below, if you put your toes in front of you so that your toes hit below your knee, and the outside foot hits your calf on the sides of your heels, you will feel less pressure and you will feel comfortable without numbness.

Compare it with the photo above.

If your hip joint is too stiff to sit in this position a long time, you can reduce the burden by laying a cushion under your butt and raising the height.
This article also mentions cross-legged posture, so please read it.
→ Related article [What is a good posture for practicing?] Things guitarist should know about their body

Also, try to change your sitting posture by sitting back every 30 minutes to 1 hour.

What did you think!?
I would be grateful if you could give it a try and give me your feedback.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me on my Twitter account or the official line(https://lin.ee/6AGJ9JX)! I will answer to the best of my ability ( ^ω^ )

See you soon!