The Urban Dictionary defines the slang word ‘cankle’ as:
“The absence of a defined ankle on a person – whereby the calf of the leg merges directly into the foot. The calf appears to replace the ankle – hence the term ‘cankle’.”
It’s a clever word, but what comes after isn’t so funny!ABC News is reporting that people–and I’m assuming that it’s most often women–are turning to plastic surgery to create slim and shapely ankles, paying up to $8,000 a pop. Declaring cankles the new muffin-top, they report that even Gold’s Gym recently stated July was ‘Cankle Awareness Month’.
Christina Reggie told ABC news about her cankle surgery:
“I thought I was deformed…No matter how much I’d try to get smaller, there’d still be that fat on the outside.”
Now, I’m not against people trying to improve themselves–this is a diet and fitness blog, after all. But, except in the case of medically necessary weight loss surgery, I think there are better ways to handle self-improvement than turning to a scalpel.
If you have cankles and they bother you, there are a few things you can do:
- Cut back on salt – it can cause water retention and bloating.
- Cut back on calories – if you’re overweight, you could be carrying fat in your ankles.
- Tone up your calves – definition may help create a leaner line.
If you’re in great shape and still don’t like the shape of your ankles, try some simple fashion tricks from the Livestrong forum:
- Choose neutral shoes that are skin toned to elongate your legs.
- Skip shoes with straps, which will draw attention to your ankles.
- Choose a shoe with a chunky, rather than slim heel.
- Draw attention to your favorite feature instead.
In the end, when it comes to bone structure, most of us just have to make the best of what Mother Nature gave us. Rather than crying over cankles, get out there and enjoy those strong, healthy legs with a good run.
What do you think about the fuss over cankles? Is it about time, or a waste of time?
To those men, and any others like them,
I am sure you really do not care, but I feel like I should let you know…women really do listen to what men like and mens opinion. Being sexually attractive and accepted is important. I have cankels and there were several times in my 21 years of life that guys have spoken negatively about the thickness of my ankles. It made me feel so hideous like you said. I have cried about them and promised I would save money just to have some surgery on them, and I have always been very fit, not skinny, but fit. My ankles made my legs look fat and manly. It made me feel super un-feminine, and disgusted with myself. I could never wear a shoe that was in fashion, and to this day I hate not being able to buy my favorite style boots that I think are so sexy. Anyway, trust me…if all us cankle people could find an easy, affordable, healthy, safe way to rid our cankle problem, we would! But we can’t ask to be re-created so that we could be considered non-hideous by people like you. We feel awkward enough with our different legs. Just try to understand how it feels. It hurts that you think about it that way and make an effort to write a comment to prove it.
Hmm, well, I guess the rest of my body must be pretty distracting then. My husband’s never said anything negative about my ankles…he’s too busy focusing on other, more important parts. As long as my sex life isn’t suffering, I am not shelling out $16,000 for some dumb surgery.
Isn’t it wonderful Spectra that men can say all this stuff and we will never know if they are “hitchhiking”? Or maybe would should know they are if they have nothing better to do than say stuff like that.
Haha, but seriously, cankles are hideous.
Well, I’m glad you have no physical flaws whatsoever. I’m sure women everywhere are fighting each other to be able to sleep with your perfectly chiseled ass.
Trust me, from a guy’s perspective, cankles are the biggest turn off. I don’t care if you’re a 10, multi-millionaire, low maintenance, etc — if you have cankles, 99 out of 100 guys will run.
They truly are the most hideous things on a woman unlucky enough to have them. Nothing uglier.
Ok, so I have “cankles”, but they are probably more genetic than anything else. Me, my grandma, aunt, and cousin on my dad’s side of the family all have the same ankles…they’re just really thick. Even some really thin celebs have them, so I disagree that losing weight will help them. I mean, I’m about as thin as I should be and I still have cankles, so I’m pretty sure losing weight won’t help. I’ve always said that if they ever came up with a procedure to fix them, I may consider it. However, I don’t know that this procedure would even help my case…my ankles aren’t fatty; they’re just really muscular and shaped weird. I’d hate to spend $16000 on an operation that may not even do any good. I find that wearing heels helps my ankles look good but I have to completely avoid gladiator style shoes…those look horrible on me.
Opps, I meant cankle surgery.. sorry!
I couldn’t agree with you more, Jody.
I saw this story & wrote about it on my blog a while ago as a SECOND post. I had a first post about a month ago at least from an MSNBC story. I was not thrilled to say the least & it really is ridiculous to have people & especially women worried about another body part that is not good enough! AND that Gold’s Gym cankle month ticked me off!
OK, I best stop now. I said it all when I posted about it.
Oh, BTW, I heard one plastic surgeon say that 30% of his business was cancel surgery.