High heels are a fashion statement for many occasions. Wearing the perfect stilettos with your outfit adds the perfect dose of sexiness and makes you look incredibly classy in a business meeting or a dinner party. Of course, we love walking in those high-heeled shoes, but most of us are also very stingy about going for a walk in these high heels. Most of us are perfectly comfortable wearing these high-heeled shoes but only for an hour or two. Once we walk too much in those sexy heels, our toes, calves, and back starts aching, and we only wait to go home and change into our sneakers.
It has been found that although these Carrie Bradshaw-like heels are loved by women all around the world, these shoes can have adverse effects on health. Once you know how capable they are to harm your body, you will surely ditch these sexy high heels and put on your cute flats.
1. Conditions Like Scoliosis
High heels have found to cause conditions like scoliosis. When a woman wears high heels, they need to stay balanced to not tip over. This is done by the body by forwarding the torso and bending the hips and the spine. If a person stays this way for a long period of time and gets habituated to it, a postural change happens in the curvature of the spine. The knees too go into a state of hyperextension as the knees lock up and bend backward. This means that the knee joints and ligaments around the joints weaken. These postural changes lead to tighter hamstring muscles and ultimately, affect the lower back and a person’s posture.
2. Plantar Fasciitis, Hammertoes, And A Lot More
It has been found that one who wears high heels also strains their plantar fascia, which connects to the toes and supports the arch. This causes a condition called plantar fasciitis. Once people get plantar fasciitis, it takes them a long and vigorous period of exercising, icing, and rehabilitation to recover. In the same way, people also get hammertoes, which occurs due to pressure that gets exerted on the toes. It has been also proved that people suffer from osteoarthritis of the knees due to continuous wearing of high-heeled shoes.
3. Don’t Combine With A Purse
High heels and a matching purse on your shoulder with the right outfit undoubtedly sounds very sexy, but is it the right combination? To your disappointment, no. Adding a purse to your high heels only worsens your posture. This is because adding a purse compounds the problems that are already done by heels. Hips and shoulders start to sag after continuous wearing of this combination.
4. Lower Leg Alters
Wearing high heels consistently have proved to alter the lower leg as they alter the muscles and the tendons present in that part of the body. The fibers in the calves become shorter and the Achilles tendon stiffens and gets thicker. While shortened calves are not a problem if you wear only high heels, it is a serious issue when you wear your regular sandals or shoes. Many people have reported that they feel pain and discomfort in their Achilles and calves because their normal range of motion changes.
5. Foot Shape Changes
If you have seen or played with a barbie doll when you were a child, you must have often admired their slender body and pretty heels. However, take a look at a barbie doll again and notice that more-than-arched feet for their high-heeled shoes to fit in. Do you think that unnatural arch is because barbies are just toys? The answer is “No”. When you wear high heels on a regular basis, the feet take a permanent “Barbie doll” shape as the Achilles tendon shortens. It shouldn’t come to you as a surprise that wearing high heels just three hours a day daily can make you suffer from this postural disorder.
If you are worried that you have done enough damage to your body, keep calm and find out about the exercises that will help you make your posture better and save you from backaches and muscle and tendon problems. Use your high-heeled shoes less often, and only on special occasions where you wouldn’t walk around much.
