Changing localscale mid game messes up my ragdoll

Hello,

I have a ragdoll game object (that has multiple parts: head, body, arms, legs) representing the player, and I'm trying to animate its movements in a 2D game. I've attached to it a movement script and an animator. the player is facing right by default and I want him to flip to the opposite direction when needed. I've tried changing the localscale of the player in the script (the x component to -1) but it messes up the ragdoll physics. I've read that it might have something to do with the animator so I tried removing it from the game object but that didnt solve the problem. however when I unchecked ''write defaults" in the animator states I can change the scale before the game starts (from the transform menu in unity) and it works but changing it mid game still ruins the ragdoll.

Any advice?

Thank you in advance.