Time to break out the heels?

As I am not high heel person myself, I have asked my wife, friends and patients to help me put this blog together…

Wearing high heels daily has been steadily on the decline for many years. You just have to look around you to see that people no longer wear them as their primary shoe. 28% of women don’t wear heels at all, and this is good (purely from a back perspective). However 72% of women do wear heels at some point:

- Special occasions

- Parties and out to dinner

- Dancing

- Work

I am not trying to put you off wearing heels with this blog, just telling you the effects they have on your body, so that you keep wearing them to a minimum.

What I mean by this is; with ‘party season’ upon us, people can forget that if they have worn heels to work all day, then go to a party or special occasion, add on some dancing you have spent many more hours then you would have spent normally in them and thus hurting your back!

So let’s start with what exactly wearing heels does to you:

Your body will attempt to compensate for the off-kilter balance that heels cause by, flexing or forward bending the hips and spine. In order to maintain balance, the calf, hip, and back muscles become tense, this makes for excess muscle fatigue and strain. Long term effects can cause the calf muscle to cramp and bulge.

This eventually will push the hips and spine out of alignment. This is particularly not good if you are in the middle of Chiropractic care as it may hinder your recovery time. The heels will also put excessive pressure on your knees and increased pressure on the balls of your feet. This brings me on to the pressure, this can be increased by the height of the heel. Just a 3 inch heel can lead to an increase of 76% of pressure on the ball of your foot!

On a slightly better note this reduces to 22% in a 1 inch heel. Solutions, to help you through what will inevitable be a great few parties:

- Avoid wearing heels for long periods of time, work vs. party!

- Do a quick stretch before and after you wear them.

- Consider a lower heel height?

- Vary your footwear from day to day, to give your feet a break.

- Purchase some insoles so your feet don’t slide down and for extra comfort.

All in all enjoy the party season, and remember we are always hear to help.