We have all heard the saying beauty is pain. Well one of those painful endeavors includes weari
ng high heels. Wearing heels has always been a go to for me when getting dressed up at night. They make your legs appear leaner, your outfit appear nicer, they have always just seemed like the obvious choice when picking out an outfit. Of corse by the end of the night, my friends can always count on hearing me complain about the pain in my feet as I wobble home, but that pain has always been sacrificed for fashion. As ridiculous as that sounds, this is true for a lot of women. But what if I were to tell you that wearing high heels can have a lasting affect on your body besides from that simple pain in your foot? Would you stop wearing them?
High heels can cause more damage to the human body than just aching feet at the end of the night. When you wear a high enough heel, it causes strain on your body, and if they are worn enough, the stains can stay with you for the rest of your life. The higher your heels are, the more pressure and strain you are shifting to the ball of your feet and toes. A one inch heel puts 22% more pressure, a 2 inch heel puts 57% more pressure, and a 3 inch heel puts 76% more pressure. (The Spine Health Institute ). This added pressure to the front of your feet can cause ingrown toenails, bunions, and even nerve damage. The shape of a foot in a heel leads to strained muscles, which can wind up shortening the muscles in your calves and back. They can also shorten your Achilles tendon because it becomes so tight. (Osteopathic ). When the pressure is put to the front of your feet, you tend to learn forward in order to keep balanced. So when walking “you have to thrust your hips forward, arch your back, and push out your chest. That familiar sexy stance works the outer hip muscles and tendons hard (and not in a good way).” (Women’s Health Mag)
When you are an older women, are you going to be the person limping around because you decided high heels were worth it? To not avoid wearing heels, some tricks include; not wearing them for long periods of time, stretching your muscles out before, or try to buy shoes with leather insoles so your foot doesn’t slide forward! (The Spine Health institute ). At the end of the day, it is up to the individual women to decide whether current fashion or future health is more important. So next time you hear the slogan “beauty is pain” you know that pain may not just be temporary.
I was really interested in this post because I love high heels but hate wearing them. And especially now they’re the only shoes I wear when going out, and they kill my feet. Not only do I feel the affects in my toes, but in my thighs and lower back. I remember one day watching a talk show and a segment was the best type of high heel for your foot shape. It was really interesting, here’s the link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgkj6PgeErU
I was going to write a blog about this too! I found an interesting study that you could add to your post.
It was done by Danielle Barkema, a biomechanist at the Iowa State University in Ames. “Wearing even higher heels puts individuals at even greater risk of developing knee osteoarthritis later in life. It can get to the point where there’s bone-on-bone contact, and knee replacements are in order.”
“Compared to walking barefoot, previous research found, wearing heels adds greater compression to the inside of a woman’s knee. To expand on the work, Barkema and a colleague compared flat shoes with 2-inch heels and 3.5-inch heels.
In their lab, the researchers used sensors, cameras and other equipment to measure the forces and shock waves in the legs of women, ages 18 to 40, as they walked in each type of shoe.
The women performed a series of trials at either their own chosen speed or at a pre-determined fixed speed. The goal was to get around the natural tendency for women to walk slower in heels and the influence that might have on physical loads and walking style.
Among the results, the study found that wearing heels changed women’s posture, caused their ankles to tilt inward and destabilized their ankle joints. There was also significantly more loading on the inner knee, which was even greater in the higher heel.”
Definitely not worth all the damage!
But, some people may argue with you because there is talk that wearing high heels burns more calories than flat shoes, and builds muscle. Because, like you mentioned when your calves have to compensate for the changes and adjust to the shoes they tighten as you walk. Overtime noticing you no longer have flabby calves. And their reasoning will be because, “beauty is pain”.
I found this post to be very interesting as a heels enthusiast myself. Sometimes, when I wear heels for too long, my toes will be numb for a few days after, and I guess I now know why! Needless to say after reading this post I do not think I will be wearing my heels as often as I do. I wonder if wearing wedges has the same affect on people’s bodies has heels do.