In a report by “the list” 72% of women in their lifetime would wear high heels. Some wear them daily – 49% of 18-24-year-olds, 42% of 20-49-year-old women, and 34% of 50-year-old women.
The perfect high heel shoes can make any outfit and make a woman feel beautiful and perfect, but this fashion trend comes with suffering. High heels have the reputation that they are bad for health and comfort, but this hardly prevents women from wearing them sometimes and often every day.
Phybean a master’s student in Ireland said that wearing high heel shoes makes her feel sexy, taller, confidence and smart. Most times when she wears heels, she feels pain majorly in her toes and legs. “I feel instantly relived if I put it off” she explains. The only moment or time she has felt pressured to wear heels is when she is going for job interviews beause most companies want to employ smart people. She would always wear heels to boost her level of confidence.
Susan said she also loves to wear heels as it makes her feel sexy and taller. The times she feels compelled to wear heels is when she must go on a date or go clubbing with friends. She also continued to say that the pain she feels from wearing heels is excruciating. She said all her leg muscle and heels hurts badly. She even said that if she wears them for too long her back and leg hurts for days.
Stephany said she likes wearing heels because it makes her feel empowered. Stephany said she likes wearing heels but not so often because she is tall. Wearing heels makes her feel nice, attractive and empowered.
Stephany continued to say that wearing heels for her doesn’t hurts at all. Even when she wears the 20 cm ones which she says have platform reaching almost 2cm. she also wears them to work but it was never compulsory for her to wear them.
A General Practitioner, Dr. Chidiebere Paul Onyebuchi explained the effect of wearing high heel shoes on the body. He grouped them and called them “the Heel Syndrome”, he started by talking about Metatarsalgia (pain in the bones of the feet) saying high heels keep the feet to a point where the toes are downwards which can put lots of stress on the ball of the feet. Generally, the higher the heels the higher the stress it puts on the heels and the metatarsal (i.e. the bone of the feet) thereby causing the pain in the bone of the feet.
Dr. Onyebuchi continues by saying, ladies can develop “stress fractures” due to the impounding stress on the metatarsal bones. Ladies can also develop “heel pain” due to the long-term wear of high heel. Heel pain can develop from the shortening of the calf muscles which can develop when the muscle becomes tight when wearing heels. When the high heels are removed, the calf muscle can stretch out which causes a painful pulling at the heels when walking without them.
He also named “toe nail deformity” and “sprain and fracture” as one of the effects associated with wearing high heels. Sprain and fractures are associated with poor balancing as some ladies haven’t mastered the skills of wearing heels thereby tripping in the process and spraining or fracturing their ankle.
Knee and back pain are one of the major effects associated with wearing high heel shoes. This occurs when the alignment of the body has been altered by the heels going up and the toe facing down. In the process of maintaining balance ladies arch the back to keep balance thereby straining the back in the process and causing back pain. The higher the heels the more the knee pain says Dr. Onyebuchi.
“There is more of discomfort when wearing high heels during pregnancy. During pregnancy there is pressure put on the lower part of the body. Although the lower extremity of the woman is built perfectly to accommodate the weight of the foetus, when heels are worn it aggravates the pain in the calf muscles.
Back pain is associated with pregnancy as that is one of the things women complain about during pregnancy. Imagine wearing high heels with the pain a pregnant woman already has, that will be excruciating. The main problem with wearing heels is not getting balance, imagine a pregnant woman who has extra weight from her foetus wearing heels. She can easily trip and fall hurting herself and her baby in the process which can lead to ‘threatened miscarriage’.”
Dr Paul advised women not to wear heels too often and to be careful when wearing then as they can cause lots of health issues.
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