The love affair that some women have with high heels didn’t just start yesterday. The fact is heels have been around from time immemorial. Louis XIV wore them way back in 1665, so too did his offspring, Louis XV and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour.
High heels can make ordinary feet and legs look sexy in a heartbeat, and a woman’s gait and posture will be instantly redefined as the chest and buttocks protrude to give her a more self-assured look.
Michelle René Watson, a thirty-odd year old sociologist lecturer , agrees. “When a woman wears low heels she looks like a kitten, but when she wears high heels she feels like a tiger.”
For a lot of women like Michelle, the higher the heels the better – whether a wedge, platform or the pencil-thin, one to ten inch stilettos.
With well over 20 killer heels to her name, Michelle says there’s no compromising on fashion. “If I’m going to a dance or party I might wear one of my regular shoes, but when you go outside you really want someone to catch you wearing your expensive heels; you have to keep them on,” she insisted.
But many of these long-suffering women risk developing unsightly bunions and corns, and causing severe damage to not only their feet but their entire body. For others, it’s a hard act to follow, and kicking off those dangerously high heels at some point is a must.
Chiropodist, Dr. Reuel Dodd, warns that women who wear very high heels over an extended period are prone to developing pronation or the inward turning of the foot at the ankles. Supination, caused in part from under-pronation, then takes place, resulting in the wobbling of the foot when walking.
“You can observe how one is walking … they’re tilting,” Dr. Dodd said of the tell-tale signs.
Painting a grim picture of its effects, the doctor said supination puts a “strain on the articulation in the joint of the ankle and, from there, one begins to get uncomfortable. discomfort in the knee joint, following the ankle the hip joint can be grossly disturbed.”
“With the impaired posture, one is going to develop all these side effects,” he said, “and the whole neurological system can be disturbed.”
But Michelle is not perturbed at the revelation. In fact, she told Buzzz magazine, “The other day, I bought one (killer heels) for a party, and that was like six inches. I have a similar one for work, and God, I like it!”
And while the doctor is aware that “we can’t ignore the fashion and what it dictates,” he recommends that for proper health, women wear shoes with no more than one and-a-half to two-inch heels. Taking long walks, driving and standing excessively in them is a no-no. As for parties, he says women should take along another pair of shoes that are comfortable and suited to the occasion.
One’s weight and height are among the factors that determine the amount of pressure placed on the feet. If the pressure is excessive, one could develop a painful condition called metatarsalgia, which affects the bones and joints in the ball of the foot. This, according to the doctor, is “very excruciating” and can disturb the arching of the foot.
In-grown toenails are also a real concern for the high-heel loving woman. Continuous lateral pressure from closed-toe high-heel shoes causes trauma to the toes. The toe-nail then begins to curve to the side instead of growing on the nail bed, leaving an unsightly toe.
The presence of bunions and corns on the feet are a common occurrence as well. The real culprit, Dr. Dodd said, are those “shoes with points” as they are ill-equipped to accommodate a woman’s feet. From where he sits, they are “made to fit four toes instead of five.”
Overindulgence in these killer heels is the surest sign that one will develop any of these ugly and unwanted growths. These, however, may be corrected through surgical intervention, including toe flex and toe separation.
Women of child-bearing age, who simply can’t do without their killer heels and insist on wearing them excessively, may be in for some surprise at the long-term damage to their bodies.
Dr. Dodd says constant wearing of these heels causes the body to assume an improper posture, putting pressure on the pelvic area which later develops into a pelvic tilt. As the years wear on, the disturbance of the womb can make it difficult for the woman to bear children.
But all is not lost for these women as the disturbance can be corrected by a chiropractor who can realign and readjust the area.
Though physiotherapists and other medical experts like Dr. Dodd can, to a large extent, correct the problems associated with improper footwear, he says the main consideration for women is to desist from wearing them.
An inconceivable thought for Michelle, who dismisses the doctor’s orders and warnings of impairment of the foot: “No way! She shot back, “Nothing that a good pedi won’t disguise!”