Is the Glamour Worth the Pain?
You’re all dressed up and ready to go out to work. Or a night on the town. Or on a fancy dinner date. And you’re wearing the one accessory that pulls the entire look together – your nosebleed-high heels that give you that long, lean, leggy look.
Nice. Now how about the damage those heels are doing to the rest of your body, or is glamour the only thing you care about? Shoes and women…perfect together, just as long as the heels aren’t too high.
High heels may look nice, but oh – the problems they cause! In terms of your feet, they either cause or aggravate conditions such as corns, calluses, hammertoes, ingrown toenails, bunions and even stress fractures in your toes.
And what about back pain? Think about it, high heels tilt your entire foot forward, increasing the normal forward curve of your back and causing your pelvis to tilt forward. Essentially, wearing high heels throws your entire body off its center of gravity and, therefore, off balance. Think of the long-term effect this has on your body if you wear heels to work each day and then go out at night!
Dr. Gerard Clum, president of Life West College of Chiropractic and spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, states that the "dangers associated with wearing high heels affect the entire body, particularly the knee, hip, and back. The abnormal weight-bearing and stressful posture induced by high heels can strain both the low back and the neck, not to mention the foot, ankle and knee."
The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress has issued the following recommendations for women who wear high heels:
• Don’t wear high heels more than two hours a day. If you must wear heels, carry a pair of flat shoes to change into.
• Compromise heel height to less than two inches.
If you’ve been wearing heels for years, you’ve probably already experienced some of their negative effects. Chiropractic care can certainly help to address some of the detrimental spinal effects of wearing high heels, but, if you really want to make a difference, then the rest is up to you.
So why not ditch the high heels and go barefooted or flat-footed to maintain proper balance and improve your posture and your health! After all, isn’t a healthy body a lot more “glamorous” than one that is damaged by a clothing accessory that is completely unnecessary?
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