It is a known fact that you have to make sacrifices to attain something. But when the sacrifice becomes very dear and costly, serious thought has to be given to whether the attainment is worth the sacrifice. That is definitely the case when it comes to wearing high heels for fashion. The high heels give the ladies a ‘top of the world’ feel and a gait that makes them look attractive. But what are the sacrifices they are making for this peripheral look-good factor?
1.High heels kill your feet
As the heels go higher and higher, the pressure and weight on the toes and plantar of the forefoot increases. Bunions and hammer toes are a common result of this pressure and they can be very painful. Bunions are caused by the swelling of the bone in the big toe and angle it inwards, towards the other toes. Haglund’s deformity or the hump bump as it is colloquially known, occurs when the Achilles tendon gets shortened and tightened due to this pressure of a high heel. The Achilles tendon becomes swollen. In the long run, this leads to a painful tendinitis condition. A heel that is about 3 inches leads to a 75 percent increase of weight and pressure on the front part of the foot.
2. High heels fatigue and damage your calves
The calf muscles never get a chance to stretch out properly. They remain in a shrunken state always. Over a period of time, they get shortened and permanently tightened. Since the calves connect the lower foot with the upper leg, this kind of shrinking leads to pain in the ball part of the foot.
3. High heels are a real disaster for the ankles
Mention was already made about the possibility of an ankle sprain or breakage due to a fall with high heels on. While that is a possible accident which you may avoid with some luck, what you cannot help is the greatly reduced mobility of the ankle joint. As the calf muscles shorten, the ankle joint too faces a shift in position. This positional shift reduces its movement and affects foot flexibility and mobility. It is this shift in the ankles that actually strain the Achilles tendon.
4. High heels lead to loss of balance
Just the act of walking in high-heeled shoes is like walking on a balancing beam! You need to have the agility and strength of a gymnast to do this. This constant acrobatic feat causes ‘long standing’ changes. For starters walking in itself becomes a balancing act. The ankle and the foot begin to move in a position facing outwards. This loss of balance can lead to frequent trips and falls leading to more serious ankle sprains and breakages.
5. High heels ruin the body posture
The heels of the feet get placed at a unnaturally high position when you wear high heels. There is a naturally existing alignment between the hips, back and shoulders. This alignment gets spoiled and ruined. Over years, this loss of alignment results in severe lower-back pain and a painful condition of the legs. Your gait in itself gets changed over time.
6. High heels deteriorate the knees
Research has shown that women using high heels are twice as susceptible to knee arthritis compared to women that don’t. Wearing the high heels turns the shin bone inwards. This results in the knee getting bent. Thus, the inner side of the knees gets subjected to increased pressure. This compressing force leads to osteoarthritis. The knee torque also gets heightened due to the knee-floor distance being increased by the high heels.
7. High heels are not so ‘hip’ for your hip
The upper part of your thighs in front hold the flexor muscles for the hip. These muscles are forced to stretch themselves because the feet are in a plantar-flexed state. This state makes the body have less power to move forward forcing the above mentioned muscles to work harder. The chronic overuse can lead to contraction of the muscles leading to flattening of the lower back muscles. The condition can get very painful as age advances.
8. High heels ‘keep you on your toes’ always
Apart from the already discussed toe problems, the box of the high-heeled shoes crush your toes together. This leads to deformity of the front foot and toe-spacing. It also causes blisters, corns and callouses. The tight fit is not good even for the skin and it can cause skin rashes.