Flats, pumps, kitten-heels, high heels, extremely high heels and what not! So many varieties of footwear developed for women in every part of the world and apart from all those million and billion models, a famous, well-known one is the high-heels worn by almost 90% of the women’s population at least once in their lifetime.

Every time when it comes to high heels and women who wear it, people think it’s about the height; although yes, it was first produced for Persian soldiers in order to gain some extra height that’d help them in wars using the bow and arrow, it is no longer a height-based footwear. It has become a symbolic footwear for women with high self-confidence, self-esteem and self-satisfaction. Also, there’s an amazing misconception about wearing high heels being an ‘invitation to sex.‘ Anyway, I’m just going to focus on the verity of high heels. Undoubtedly they do offer great benefits to us, women, in terms of being able to look taller, walk in a good posture full of confident and power along with wearing it elongating our legs and forcing our back to lower a little bit more than it would normally. This creates an attractive silhouette and adds inches to our natural height.

Apart from all the benefits high-heels provides every woman with, the detriments of wearing it outweighs their healthy lifespan, and nowadays even pregnant women wear them without being aware of how risky it is and about how she could slip and fall forward at any moment as during pregnancy, a woman’s weight increases as a result of which her body shape and centre of gravity changes, making her walk differently and less steadily.

Everytime you wear heels that are higher than two inches, you risk shortening your Achilles tendon, which is what connects your calf muscle to the back of your heel bone. ~Dr. Nicole Freels.

The pressure on 1 inch heel is 22%, on 2 inches heel is 57% and 3 inches heel is 76%. Heels that are more than 3 inches for sure will need more than 76% of pressure. Hence, the higher the heel, the more pressure there is on the front of the foot. This, in the long run, causes bruising and the following problems:

  • PUMP BUMP: The rigid backs or straps of high heels can irritate the heel, creating a bony enlargement also known as Haglund’s deformity.
  • ANKLE INJURIES: High heels impair balance; a wearer is at greater risk of falling which could lead to a sprained or broken ankle.
  • METATARSALGIA: High heels force the body’s weight to be redistributed. Prolonged wear can lead to joint pain in the ball of the foot.
  • ACHILLES TENDONS: When the front of the foot moves down in relation to the heel, the Achilles Tendons tightens up. The higher a heel is, the shorter the tendons become creating heel pain.
  • HAMMERTOES: A narrow toe-box pushes the smaller toes into a bent position at the middle joint. Eventually, the muscles in the second, third and fourth toes become even when there are no confining shoes.
  • THE CALF: Muscles in the calf naturally contract when you walk in high heels. However, long-term wear can cause them to shorten and tighten permanently ~ leading to pain in the ball of the foot, or knee, hip or cause back pain.
  • THE KNEE: Teetering around in stilettos throws the body forward and puts increased pressure on the inside of the knee, one study found the pressure was up to 26% and greater. This can lead to ARTHRITIS, the painful degenerative joint disease, in the knee.

Going through all these possible problems of wearing high-heels, it’s quite clear about how every woman should think twice about health or beauty coming first. Also, it doesn’t necessarily mean that wearing high-heels have to be completely stopped. NO! Choosing normal heels that is between 2-3 inches or even wearing higher heels at a proper time limit; for instance, like for special ceremonies, meetings, celebrations that have no longer duration of walking around with it sort of thing will help reduce the possibility of getting any of those above described health issues, living a healthy lifestyle. More of ‘First healthy, then beauty‘ sort of living.