Recently one of the leading newspapers carried an article about the ever increasing heights of heels of shoes, a trend especially popular in the West. Needless to say, that it is becoming increasingly common in India as well, with the short, not very tall and even tall women opting for three and four inch heeled shoes. No doubt it looks very elegant, but yet there is a huge price to pay in the long run. Anatomically speaking, a high heeled shoe causes your foot to go into plantar flexion (sole of the foot facing backwards), placing tremendous pressure on your forefoot.

This causes a shift in the centre of mass; your body adjusts its balance by making the lower part of your body lean forward and the upper part of your body lean backward. This puts increased pressure on the joints in the body, especially the S-curve of vertebral column, and leads to lower back pain, muscle imbalances etc.

While walking also, it becomes difficult to push off from the ball of your feet, at every step and puts more stress on the hip flexor muscles as well as the knee joint, which remains bent most of the time.

Some of the negative effects of heeled shoes are –

-Mis-alignment in the body, especially of the lower limbs.
-Ankle sprains.
-Shortened & tight calf muscles.
-Shortened Achilles tendon, which might lead to Tendonitis.
-Lower back pain.
-Tight gluteus muscles.
-Osteoarthritis

A few tips on living well with heeled shoes –

-Restrict the use of heels to very special occasions.
-It has been found that a 1 ½ to 2 inch heel is quite bearable, for short durations.
-Once home, warm-up a little and stretch out your calf, gluteus, hip flexor and lower back muscles.
-Hit the gym regularly to strengthen your lower limb muscles to withstand the stress.
-Try to go in for heels with comfortable straps behind, to ensure better foot alignment during multi-lateral movements.
-Massage the bottom of your foot by rolling a small ball under the ball of your foot for about two minutes.

And then yes, go ahead and walk tall.

Sindhu Ramachandran is an engineer but with a passion for people and learning, found her calling in the domains of human behaviour and connection. What followed is an eight-year research into ‘Intentions of Human Behaviour’ which has now morphed into a project called “Simplifying Life!” Deeply spiritual in her outlook, she is an avid reader, an amateur documentary-film maker and very interested in mystical sciences, besides dabbling in writing when inspired by the environment around her!