Can Wearing Tight Pants Give You A Hernia?

Tight pants are annoying, uncomfortable and anything but desirable, but a celebrity recently claimed they’re downright dangerous, too.

Earlier this week, actress and singer Suki Waterhouse posted a tweet claiming that she got a hernia from wearing too-tight pants.

For anyone who’s ever zipped up a pair of jeans that are a little too small, this may come as a shock. Do those too-tight pants put you at risk of a hernia?

Here’s what doctors say:

A hernia is “a weakness in the abdominal wall that allows something from the abdomen to protrude through the layers of the abdominal wall,” said Dr. Brittany Mead, an assistant professor of surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

“It’s a fancy word for a hole in the human body,” added Dr. Eric Wise, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Tissue — such as fats, organs or intestines — that isn’t supposed to protrude through ends up poking through, Wise added.

This often creates a bulge in your abdomen or groin, but it isn’t always visible, Wise noted.

It can sometimes cause pain, Mead said. But this also isn’t always the case.

“Many things can cause a hernia, and most are beyond our control,” said Wise.

They can happen after trauma and after surgery. Certain things present at birth can increase someone’s risk of developing it, too, he added.

But there are some risk factors that we do have control over, added Mead.

“Things like chronic cough, obesity, pregnancy and lots of strenuous exercise can increase risk of hernia,” Mead said. Constipation can also increase your risk.

Quitting smoking, managing your weight and avoiding constipation by eating a high-fiber diet are all ways to reduce your risk of getting a hernia, added Wise.

“But oftentimes, hernias are unavoidable,” Wise said. Meaning, you won’t totally erase the chance of developing a hernia by doing these things.

Sorry to Suki, but tight pants likely weren’t the reason for the hernia. It’s “not something that you’re going to do by wearing the wrong piece of clothing one time,” Mead said.

So no, a pair of tight pants is not going to be the sole reason you end up with a hernia. And that’s true even if you wear tight pants regularly for years and years.

Wise agreed. “Up front, obviously, I don’t know about her specific medical condition and don’t know the details, but in my practice, I have never seen or are familiar with a case of tight pants causing a hernia,” said Wise.

Wise added that he also can’t think of a “plausible physiologic mechanism by which that can happen.”

The tight pants may have exacerbated any pain associated with an existing hernia by squeezing the abdominal area, but the tight pants wouldn’t cause a hernia on their own, Wise added.

It’s even more unlikely that the tight pants caused the hernia for another reason.

“In a lot of patients, we actually recommend… that they wear an abdominal binder or a waist trainer, which actually puts pressure on the hernia and kind of controls the protuberance of that intra-abdominal tissue,” said Mead.

“So, wearing tight pants would act in a very similar way,” she said.

While Mead stressed that she, of course, can’t comment specifically on Waterhouse’s specific health situation, Waterhouse had a baby in March 2024 and “that’s something that would make me feel like [the hernia] was related more to the pregnancy than anything else,” Mead noted.

When it comes to decreasing your chance of developing a hernia, you shouldn’t worry too much.

“What I tell my patients specifically is, especially if they don’t have a hernia, that they should live their life,” said Mead.

Some studies say family history could put you at heightened risk of hernia, but Mead said she doesn’t advise against any behaviors — “we don’t have enough research to say that one activity over another is going to cause a hernia that doesn’t exist.”

“I don’t specifically advise my patients against any type of activity. I want them to live their lives, and if they form a hernia, they form a hernia,” she added.

“If you see a bulge or feel a bulge or feel like something’s not right, I think it’s reasonable to have a physician examine the area,” said Wise. That can be your primary care provider or a specialist such as a general surgeon, he added.

Hernia management and treatment have advanced significantly in the past decade or so, said Wise.

“While not every hernia needs surgery, it’s certainly something that is best evaluated by a physician, and the main things that can be done to prevent it are lifestyle modifications and not necessarily changing your wardrobe,” Wise added.