What are the Health Benefits of Suspenders?

Are there actually health benefits to wearing suspenders? 

Absolutely. Suspenders, also known as braces, have been proven to:

  • Improve posture
  • Increase blood flow to your internal organs
  • Improve circulation to your legs and feet
  • Reduce back pain

But how? The bottom line is looser pants. 

Not only can you ditch your belt when you wear suspenders and HIKERS®, you can also buy and wear pants that aren't keeping your guts in a vice all day.

Additionally, belt wearers who switch to HIKERS® often find that the size of their so-called beer bellies actually decrease when they stop wearing a belt or pants that are too tight.

Doctors have been touting the health benefits of suspenders for almost a century. As early as the 1920s a Chicago doctor named Dr. V. S. Cheney said, “There are more big stomachs caused by the wearing of a belt than any other one thing I know of," urging people instead to practice "posture, exercise and the wearing of suspenders."

What’s this? Can big stomachs actually be caused by belts?

The answer is: Definitely!

Belts, and tight pants for that matter, act as a tourniquet on your gut, displacing and restricting blood flow to internal organs and causing fat to get stuck in the torso rather than settling in the buttocks and legs.

Let’s break down the health benefits of suspenders one by one...

How do suspenders improve your posture?

The gentle pressure applied on your shoulders makes you compensate by standing up straighter. In other words, suspenders subconsciously remind you to stop slouching and walk a little taller. There are all sorts of contraptions and modern devices designed to help you improve your posture. HIKERS® improve posture and keep your pants up. 

Can suspenders actually improve blood flow to your internal organs?

Think about it: belts and tight pants are like tourniquets on your waist. Tourniquets constrict an area, forcing everything either below or above the cut off. All day long, your belt is compressing your intestines and other organs. Wearing suspenders allows you to wear looser-fitting pants without worrying that you’ll be hiking them up all day. That’s what HIKERS® are for.

How can suspenders improve circulation?

Suspenders, also known as galluses, improve circulation in two ways:

  1. Maintaining better posture keeps your entire skeletal structure in alignment, which in turn keeps your blood flowing optimally, and
  2. Removing the tourniquet around your middle (whether a belt or pants that are too tight) increases blood flow to your legs and feet.

Can back pain be relieved by wearing suspenders?

Posture affects so many of our common ailments and chronic pain. When you improve your posture, as suspenders have been proven to do, your entire skeleton and muscular structure work as it intended. You engage your core muscles, broaden your back, and even hold your head correctly. Posture, proper circulation and blood flow to your all of your muscles helps relieve back pain. In addition, back pain is always alleviated when your belly size is reduced.

How can suspenders reduce my belly size?

Whether you appreciate beer or not, if you are someone with the classic beer-belly gut hanging over your pants or belt, you are an ideal convert to suspenders or HIKERS®. As you know, when you take off your pants, there’s a ridge below your gut, an indentation that doesn’t really go away, even after a day or two without constricting pants. 

When you switch to HIKERS® or suspenders, you’ll find that the indentation below your belly slowly goes away. As that ridge smooths out, your internal organs move back into their natural positions, your circulation and posture improve, and some of your belly fat migrates to your lower extremities, making you look more proportionate.

Have you been cautioned about the size of your belly?

Has your doctor recommended that you lose some weight or reduce the size of your gut? Maybe that doctor even recommended suspenders. Some of us just can't go the traditional suspenders route. HIKERS® are innovative suspenders and are made to be worn by the everyday, casual person. Learn more about :

Why to ditch your belt, how HIKERS® are different from traditional suspenders, and why HIKERS® are the perfect solution to keep your pants up.

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