No pain no gain with your favorite footwear

Most women are aware that high heels, though cute, are terrible for the health and comfort for our feet. Though the shoes accentuate the female leg and foot and help clothing to look its best, many young women are damaging their feet and many older women are already feeling the affects of damage done. The fact is that feet aren’t made to be put in that position for extended periods of time; regardless of how fantastic they look.

Most doctors would argue that the curves in the leg achieved by the use of high heels with a two inch heel or higher are not normal or healthy anatomically and are actually a sign that the wearer is doing something damaging to her body. The fact that high heels are orthopedic ally unsound may not stop women from wearing heels, in fact, nothing may. But the dangers of heel wearing should be known.

Heels can create severe back and knee problems, injuries and shortened calf muscles. Most women think the only damage they are doing is felt at the end of the day, when they take their shoes off and relax the soreness in their feet. But doctors warn that heels are more than just making your feet sore, they are damaging your body.

Most women wear heels because they have to look polished for work or they think it is the style and therefore somehow required of them as women. Most women also feel that the foot pain they experience is most commonly callus and heel pain. Women also complain about bunions, joint swelling, hammertoes, permanent bends in toes, neuromas, nerve issues, ingrown toenails, shooting pains and stress fractures. Some women, who wear heels their whole lives eventually, will be unable to wear flat shoes.

Their Achilles tendon actually shortens due to being condensed by the curve of the heel. The problem can be fixed but that doesn’t lessen the severity of the condition. Dancers have the worst problems as their jobs require them to move constantly in severely uncomfortable shoes that contort the feet into unnatural shapes. One condition is actually named after the shoes. A “pump bump” is the bump that forms on the back of the heel from the heel rubbing against the inside of the shoe. The heel wearer can also put undo pressure on her toenails and promote thicker growth of toenails as well as fungus and in-grown nails.