Are Corsets and Waist Trainers Posing a Serious Hazard to Your Health? Expert Helps Us Understand

Corsets and waist trainers have been a thing for long now. Fashion and gym enthusiasts swear by them but are they worth your health? Our expert says more.

 

I was casually going through a few YouTube shorts over the weekend on how to wear corsets. The very process looked so painful that it made me wonder why go for it at all. Alongside, another suggestion followed, which was about waist trainers. Worn mostly by women going to the gym, they are made of a stretchable fabric like a large elastic belt.

 

 

Sure, the woman wearing the corset or/and waist trainer looks shapely and seemingly has an hourglass figure, but there are so many clothing options; why choose something that squeezes your body to an abnormal level? One of my colleagues, who writes on fashion, told me, “no pain, no gain,” while talking about corsets one day, which pushed me to learn more about this clothing piece. But, somehow, to me, both corsets and waist trainers looked pretty perilous for the human body and health. I approached Dr Sugi Subramanium, Senior Consultant (Surgical Gastroenterology) at SRM Global Hospitals, Chennai, with this query and this is what he said.

 

 

Are Corsets, Waist Trainers Posing Serious Hazard to Your Health?

What are corsets? Originating from “The Victorian Era,” these were historically clothing staples of European women. They are known to be a tight-fitting garment, giving a shape to a woman’s body.

 

 

“It starts from the bust down to below the hips and often has straps to tie it up. Waist trainers, meanwhile, are designed to compress the midsection, creating a more defined waistline, mostly used by gym-going people,” Dr Subramanium says.

So, where did the obsession around corsets and waist trainers start? Dr Subramanium points out that since corsets “help achieve” the ideal female silhouette, which is an hourglass figure, they are a great catch for women.

Corsets narrow the “waistline by tightly compressing the torso, often reducing the waist by several inches,” he mentions. However, this “compromise to respiratory function was one of the earliest signs that beauty standards were pushing the limits of what the body could safely endure. Today, tight clothes such as bodycon dresses, shapewear, skinny jeans, tight crop tops, and high-waisted jeans continue the legacy of prioritising body shaping over comfort and health,” he points out.

How Corsets and Waist Trainers Affect Your Health?

Since corsets have laces to tighten their hold, they “severely restrict the diaphragm, leading to shallow breathing and reduced lung capacity,” Dr Subramanium warns.

The tight clothes and corsets “physically shift internal organs from their natural positions” to sculpt the waist, which means your “liver, stomach, and intestines may compress or displace, resulting in chronic indigestion, acid reflux, and constipation,” the doctor says.

 

Some autopsy reports from the 19th century noted “corset liver,” where the organ “showed visible dent and damage due to years of compression, a clear warning about the long-term consequences of extreme body shaping clothing,” he notes.

Further, the pressure that gets applied can “also restrict the blood flow and compress major nerves, especially around the waist and lower limbs.”

On the other hand, waist trainers, which are marketed as fitness aids or slimming tools in today’s times, have similar harmful repercussions as corsets.

 

They are less rigid, but “still compress vital organs, limit breathing during workouts, and encourage poor core engagement,” Dr Subramanium points out.

How To Lessen Risk And Still Be Fashionable

• Choose correctly: Choose clothes made with stretchable, soft, and breathable fabrics.
• Limit shapewear Use: Do not wear them for long hours and never downsize for a more snatched look.
• Listen: To Your Body and not just fashion. Wear comfortable clothes that do not restrict you from eating and moving freely.

Given this, “the lesson from history is pretty clear: when fashion compromises function, health is often the silent casualty. Your true style should never affect health for fashion and beauty standards,” wraps up Dr Subramanium.

 

While fashion is, of course, subjective and a personal choice, nothing trumps comfort. There’s no reason to think that a snug cloth cannot be stylish or chic. Also, one always finds their style. But, that coming at the cost of one’s health may not be a very safe bargain, isn’t it?