High Heels and Your Feet

To feel glamorous, sexy and taller are just a few of the reasons women wear high healed shoes. While heels can make a women feel more attractive, they can also be hazardous to her health.

Forcing the feet into narrow spaces in a unnatural position can creat discomfort in the low back legs and feet. Heels can force a woman to change the posture of her back and place excessive strain on the disc and postural muscles of the low back. Other conditions such as Shortening of the achilles tendon and gastroc muscles in the lower leg, bunions, hammertoes, metatarsalgia(forefoot pain), corns, calluses and ingrown toenails are commonly seen in our office.

While most conditions are treated conservatively, more severe deformities can require surgical intervention.

If a woman refuses to give up her heels, here are a few recommendations:

1. purchase shoes at the end of the day when your feet are at their largest. Feet will swell by the end of the day

2. look for shoes with a wider toe box

3. try to avoid heels higher than 2 inches.

4. avoid purhasing shoes with the hope of "breaking them in". If a shoe is uncomfortable when you try it on, chances are it will continue to be later.

5. If you have deformities such as bunions or hammertoes consider having a ball and ring stretch to the leather of the shoe that lies over these areas. any leather or shoe repair shop can do this for just a few dollars

6. wear flats instead of heels

7. have your feet measured by a trained salesman. Often times individuals will mistakenly thick they are one size but infact are really another. (more often than not, women will swear their feet are smaller than the size they actually measure!)