Think before carrying fat wallet in your back pocket

According to the doctor, wallet neuritis can occur in professionals who sit for a long duration and in long-distance drivers carrying their wallets in their back pockets.

Hyderabad: A 30-year-old man here was diagnosed with ‘wallet neuritis’ or ‘fat wallet syndrome’ after living through severe sharp shooting pain from the right buttock to the leg and foot for three months.

The pain was intense while sitting or lying down and lesser while standing or walking, says Dr. Sudhir Kumar, Neurologist at Apollo Hospitals, who was treating the patient.

“He was evaluated elsewhere. MRI spine ruled out slipped disc and nerve compression in the lower back region. Nerve conduction studies had shown severe damage to the right sciatic nerve. No cause for sciatic nerve damage was obvious,” the doctor informed.

On detailed enquiry, the man informed that he always carried a fat wallet in his right back pocket, which remained in his pocket even while in the office for nearly 10 hours.

“Then I could guess the cause – ‘fat wallet syndrome’. The wallet compresses the piriformis muscle, through which the sciatic nerve passes, thereby compressing the sciatic nerve. The wallet can also cause direct compression of sciatic nerve branches,” Dr. Sudhir added.

The patient was asked to remove their wallet from their back pocket while sitting and piriformis muscle stretching exercises were also taught to him. A month later, the pain scores reduced from 7/10 to 1/10 on the visual analog scale.

According to the doctor, wallet neuritis can occur in professionals who sit for a long duration and in long-distance drivers carrying their wallets in their back pockets.

So, what can be done to fix it? Simple! Take your wallet out of your back pocket when you sit or drive, and put it in your front pocket or jacket. This helps reduce the stress on your lower back and helps you sit at a more neutral level. Or, see if you can reduce the size of the wallet by decluttering it.