Shoo away shoe pain

Dr Maninder Shah Singh talks about women facing multiple health issues due to high heels

In India, with growing urbanisation and following of urban fashion trends, heels have definitely gained higher priority over flats. As a consequence, there are more women who are facing multiple health issues due to their footwear preference.

Heels Impact Health

Women across the world have often complained of high heels as extremely painful; however, its control over popular imagination is so deeply ingrained that it is still one of the preferred footwear options amongst women for celebratory occasions. When a person wears heels, due to the inclined nature of the footwear, the body weight shifts towards the front of the feet, and hence the person has to balance the body to stand erect. The natural posture of the body is lost and causes the muscles of the leg, pelvis and back to work overtime try and maintain balance. Abnormal posture and prolonged stress on certain muscles and bones cause various health problems.

Wearing high heels daily causes the muscles and tendons of the ankles to shorten and stiffen. Also, the knee is in an elevated position in people who wear high heels. These muscles and tendons are connected to the calf muscles, and shortening and stiffening of these muscles give rise to a condition called Achilles tendonitis, giving rise to calf cramps and making walking difficult and painful.

High heels also affect the knees, which supports the body to maintain balance in the forward inclined posture, putting extra stress on them. This is especially on the kneecap called the patella-femoral joint causing early cartilage degeneration. This has proven to be a contributory factor in causing arthritis in the knee.

Some people develop lower back pain after prolonged wearing of high heels. This is likely because the overused back muscles get cramps and spasms. An effective way of dealing with this is regular back and abdominal strengthening exercises which will help relieve the spasms. A visit to a physiotherapist for guidance on what exercises to do is advisable.

The part most affected is the foot in itself. As the body pressure shifts to the front part of the feet, it leads to conditions such as forefoot overload and corns and calluses. Forefoot overload causes severe pain on the front of the foot and toes. Corns and calluses are the formation of painful hard lesions on the soles of the foot. Wearing tight shoes also causes hallux valgus, commonly called a bunion, a condition which is a progressive deformity of toes, leading to a painful bony prominence on the medial aspect of the foot.

Care

One fashion statement can bring about a host of health concerns, but there are ways to reduce the effect of heels on life.

• Wear heels when most important. Reducing the frequency of wearing heels is the most obvious way of protecting your feet.
• Daily massage your legs and include some stretching exercises. Through daily massage, just by yourself and through some stretching exercises you can ease out the tendons and calf muscles.
• Don’t wear worn out shoes.
• Avoid thinner heels like stilettos and pointed heels, choose wedges to provide more support to your heels.
• It is advisable that heights of heels are changed every day, which means that footwear should be changed daily if one has to wear heels. low-heels is better for posture and body.
• Whether you carry the heels in your bag or avoid them altogether for a day, wear shoes meant for commuting.

The writer is senior consultant, orthopedic surgeon, chief foot & ankle services, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre