As every girl I wear heels. No, actually I wear heels more than any other girl. I love high heels and wear them every day. Problems such as pain and bleeding are common for me but I wear heels since I was 12 and I do not pay that much attention to that anymore. There is always a person who tells me that wearing heels often is bad. I always try to stay as polite as I can during this kind of situation because it seems hilarious for me that somebody else educates me about the topic I probably know better than anybody else. So today I decided to talk about harmful effects of heels.

The posture of the person with and without heels is completely different. Usually your spine is straight, calf muscle is relaxed and body weight is distributed all around the foot. When you wear heels the body shifts forward, because of this a lot of pressure placed on knees, hips and spine. In order to maintain the balance the upper part of the body leans back and lower part leans forward. Because of this different kinds of problems are created. The most common ones are calluses, blisters, bunions, and ingrown nails. Wearing high heels daily leads to shortening of muscle fibers what “changes ankle’s range of motion, and contribute to your risk for strains and sprains.” You also put a lot of force on your kneecaps what can lead to osteoarthritis. Spider veins can appear because of restricted circulation in your lower limbs that is created due to ankles being bent forward. Achilles tendons stiffen, “which anchor your calf muscles to your heels”. Walking may become painful because of shortened and taut ankle and tendons. Lumbar erector spinae muscle is very stressed because of unnatural way the spine sways, and it results in sore lower back.

There are some recommendations that you should know in order to lower negative effects of wearing heels. First of all try to avoid wearing heels for a very long time. If you do so try to do stretching exercises before and after wearing heels to less muscle stress.  Soft insoles can reduce impact on the knee. Make sure to wear the right size, sliding forward creates even more toe pressure. And the most important one – have some flat shoes in your wardrobe. Find some time when you don’t need to wear heels and let your legs have some rest.