Heels, Glorious Heels!

Heels, glorious heels! Just the act of wearing a heel puts women in a different state of mind. It could be another form of “shoe therapy”! We are taller, feel more confidant, sexy, powerful! Telling some women to stop wearing heels is like telling Sampson to cut his hair before battle! It takes away that psychological “fix”!

How can something that makes you look so good be “not so good” for your feet? Not that it matters for some, but for those of you on the fence about how much heel and how often, here is a list of conditions we most commonly see in women who wear heels:
bunions, hammer toes, neuromas (nerve injury causing pain, burning and sometimes numbness to the toes), metatarsalgia (pain under the ball of the foot), Achilles tendonitis, heel pain, ingrown toenails, ankle sprains, fractures (yes, fractures), corns and calluses. Because the foot bone is connected to the rest of the body, chronic knee pain and back pain can also be linked to high heeled shoes.

Without having to completely give up on your stilettos, how can we “still let the toes” (had to got there LOL!) survive in this environment?

We can start by keeping the height of the heel to no more than 2 inches. Anything over that will put 75% of your body weight on the balls of your feet. This will slowly wear away the fat pad underneath the balls of your feet and give you pain in return! Gee, thanks! A lower heel also helps keep the toes from cramping into the shoe and hammertoes from getting worse. Keeping the heel lower will also keep the spine from swaying and the knees from straining, a bonus for those suffering from these conditions.

Have bunions or look like some are getting started? Stick with a heel that has at least a more rounded toe box or a square one. The pointier the shoe, the more you “train” your toe in the wrong direction and the bigger your bunion becomes. This type of shoe also helps keep ingrown toenails and neuromas at bay.

Getting pain to the back of the heel or in the Achilles? Before heading out for the day in those heels and when you get home and take them off, please give your Achilles tendons some time and stretch them out. This helps to compensate for the shortening of the Achilles tendon that occurs from chronic wearing of high heel shoes. Your body weight will strain your shortened tendons and ligaments and give you tendonitis and heel pain!

Those nasty corn and calluses are there to stay as long as you are wearing heels. Do your best to keep them softer with lotion to your feet daily. A cream with an exfoliant is a must with those thicker corns and calluses. There are also a variety of pads you can use to cushion the toes. If the stores don’t have one that works, your podiatrist may have just what you need!

Wearing a chunkier heel rather than a slim one will better stabilize your foot on your ankle. This will help to avoid some of those sprains.

Buy leather shoes, not synthetics. Leather is more forgiving. Make sure the shoe feels good in the store. Take your time walking around the shoe section to get a feel of how they really feel! Giving your feet the job to stretch them out at home can give you blisters, calluses and pain!

Always buy shoes and measure your feet in the afternoon or at the end of the day. Your feet swell throughout the day. Measuring your feet gives you some place to start. Remember shoes are like clothes, different brands have different fits! A size 8 in one shoe does not necessarily mean a size 8 in all! Go by fit, not size!