Introduction
Wearing high heels might make us look fashionable and taller, but it does at the price of showering hundreds of foot problems on us, ranging from impairing stability to increasing the chances of getting injured like leg, back, and foot pain. Wearing high heels for long can even lead to many structural changes in the foot, including bunions, hammer toes, neuroma, equinus, and other conditions that require surgical correction. High heels put excessive pressure and stress on the back and lower extremities of our body, affecting posture, gait, and balance.
What Are The Problems That High Heels Cause?
High heels leave our feet aching after a few initial hours, followed by pain in the lower back, hurting knees, and the balls of the feet, leading to a condition called metatarsalgia because of the excessive downward force exerted on them. The higher the heel, the worse the problem it is going to create. A one-inch heel exerts approximately twenty-two percent more pressure on the ball of the foot than a flat shoe. With a three-inch heel, there is about seventy-five percent more pressure on the forefoot. Some of the problems that high heels cause are :
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A Shortened Achilles Tendon - When wearing high heels, there is less tension in the Achilles tendon than standing flat without heels. Less tension might look like a good thing in the beginning, but in reality, it results in the tendon becoming shorter over time.
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Stress Fractures - The more pressure one exerts on the balls of the feet on wearing heels, the more they grow the possibility of getting foot problems due to stress fractures which include getting small cracks in the bones of the feet without any injury too.
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Pinched or Suppressed nerves - The type of pinched nerves that are most commonly found as a result of wearing high heels is called Morton's Neuroma. One might feel like they have a pebble under their foot or a fold in their sock between the third and the fourth toe. One might also have burning, tingling, numbness, or might even feel some pain in the ball of their foot radiating towards their toes if they have Morton's Neuroma. The treatment includes injections or surgeries if changing footwear does not help. The best option is definitely not wearing high heels.
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Toe and Toenail Deformities - Toes get squished when a person wears high heels or shoes with pointed toes. These shoes create a situation where the toes are even more crowded. One has a higher risk of developing bunions and hammertoes, and fungal infections if they wear high heels on a regular basis. Bunions and Hammertoes are quite painful, and changing shoes can help with this issue. If changing shoes does not help much, surgical options can be looked for.
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Posture gets affected too. A high heel puts our foot in an extended downward position by increasing the pressure on the forefoot. This, in turn, forces us to adjust our entire body to compensate for the shift in balance. As our lower body leans forward to maintain a proper balance, the upper body has to then lean back to counter the weight. As a consequence, the alignment of the body gets impaired, a stiff is created, and an unnatural posture gets created instead of a relaxed and neutral one.
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Gait - When a person walks normally, the person glides the foot from the heels to the ball of the feet, pushing with the toes, but in high heels, this position of the foot prevents us from pushing off the ground efficiently. This unnatural change in the position of the foot causes the hip flexor to glide even harder and move the body forward. The knees also stay more flexed, making the knee muscles work even harder than normal. The higher the heels are, the worse the scenario becomes. Women who wear extra-high stilettos often have a lumbered and giraffe-like gait mainly because their backs, knees, and calves lose the strength to compensate for the imbalance.
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Hip, back, knees, and ankles - The normal C curve shape of the back acts as a shock absorber by reducing the weight-bearing stress on the vertebrae and pelvis. High heels lead the lumbar spine to get flattened while forcing the thoracic spine of the mid back into a hyper-curved position. On wearing high heels, the person forces the hip flexor muscles into a persistent flexed position. Knee Osteoarthritis is what one can develop from wearing high heels. Women are affected more than men. This is because it increases the distance from the floor to the knee, which, in turn, leads to excessive knee torque and compression. High heels also make the motion and power of the ankle joint limited. When a person wears high heels, the calf muscles become shortened because of excessive height, which further lessens the power of trying to propel the foot forward.
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Feet - When the foot is placed in a downward position, enough stress is exerted on the bottom portion of the forefoot. This increased pressure, in turn, leads to pain or foot deformities like bunions and neuromas. Another condition that happens due to altered alignment of the Achilles tendon leads to a condition called Haglund's Deformity which is basically a bony enlargement of the heels.
How Can Injuries From High-Heeled Shoes Be Avoided?
Some of the ways to avoid getting injured from wearing high heels are :
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Going for the size that fits perfectly.
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Taking them down a notch or two. Lower heels are less harmful than high heels. The pain caused by high heels is mainly because of the abnormal distribution of weight. So lower heels help prevent that to an extent.
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Making sure there is room for the toes to straighten.
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Taking some time off from wearing high heels.
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Working on our core and back strength by doing exercises.
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Wearing flats and comfortable shoes sometimes.
Conclusion
It is true that some people choose fashion over comfort and health, but wearing high-heeled shoes can bring about a ton of problems to our feet. So if a person is experiencing pain because of high heels, it is always advisable to contact a Podiatrist as soon as possible.
