Why This Thing Is Your Back’s Worst Enemy

A fat wallet is bad for you.

If you’re lucky enough to keep wads of cash in your pants at all times, find somewhere else to put it than your wallet, says Dr. Arnie Angrist, a New York City-based chiropractor who told HuffPost that sitting on a wallet “creates an asymmetry or imbalance that distorts your pelvis and hips.“

When one hip sits higher than the other, he says, your upper and middle back and neck all compensate, “which can cause all types of back and neck issues.”

Dr. Chris Good, a professor of clinical sciences at University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic, explained that if your spine “becomes tilted or there is a compensation to sit more upright because of the tilt, you could experience uneven loads on the spinal joints, muscles and discs which might cause pain, dysfunction or even degenerative damage over time.”

Even worse, it could literally kick you in the ass: “Compression caused by a thick wallet could cause irritation to a number of important structures in the buttocks: the sciatic nerve, the local muscles (for example the gluteal muscles or piriformis) and the local arteries and veins,” Good said.

So just say no to trifold wallets, which “have too much room that you feel obligated to fill,” Dr. Scott Welden, of Omni Wellness NYC, told HuffPost. “If your wallet is too big, you have too much of your life in it.”

Instead, keep your essentials in check by using one of the following methods. We promise your back will thank you.