Wearing high heels may be fashionable and make you feel taller and sexier, but at what price?
High-heeled shoes can cause a plethora offoot problemswhile impairing stability and increasing the risk of injury.
Leg, back, and foot pain are among some of the more common complaints.
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This forces you to adjust the rest of your body to compensate for the shift in balance.
The effect on your posture is amplified the higher the heels get.
For every inch of heel height, you increase the pressure on the forefoot by another 25%.
As a result, a three-inch heel adds 75% more pressure than normal.
This unnatural change in foot position causes thehip flexor musclesto work harder to propel the body forward.
Your knees will also need to stay more flexed, causing your knee muscles to work harder than normal.
Again, the higher your heels are, the worse this gets.
Balance
Walking in high-heeled shoes can be like walking on a balance beam.
It takes a lot of balance and precision to navigate differing surfaces, elevations, and inclines.
By essentially walking on your tiptoes, you risk damage to the underlying bones and connective tissues.
Stilettos are especially challenging, since the stick-like heels give you little support or stability.
Poor alignment will invariably lead to the overuse of the back muscles and increase the risk ofchronic back pain.
Hips
The hip flexor muscles are located on the upper front of your thighs.
Wearing heels forces them into a persistent flexed position.
This may contribute to the development of both low back andhip pain.
Knees
Knee osteoarthritis(“wear-and-tear arthritis”) is much more common in women than men.
Much of that blame can be placed squarely on the use of high heels.
This altered position causes the compression of the medial (inner) knee, a common site of osteoarthritis.
Ankles
High heels limit the motion and power of the ankle joint.
Over time, a common consequence of this is an inflammatory condition known as insertional Achilles tendonitis.
The pressure will increase in tandem with the height of the heel.
The increased pressure can also cause pain or foot deformities such as bunions andneuromas.
High heels will also cause the tendons and ligaments that support the arch to tighten.
This can lead to pain in the arch of the foot, a condition calledplantar fasciitis.
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