At least a couple of times a month, I thank my lucky stars that I’m 5’11″ inches tall. For me, wearing high heels
Turns out, Jessica Simpson
“I think when my mom had me I came out wearing high heels – I even go to the beach in them!”
She also provided this gem:
“I’d rather have a great pair of high heels than a hug.”
I know you can’t see me slowly shaking my head in pity right now, but maybe when you read this post you’ll give second thoughts to artificial height enhancement.
That can't feel good.
The practice of wearing high heels probably dates back to ancient Egypt, but that doesn’t make it right. Back then, high heels were most likely worn ceremonially, but today they’re a staple of women’s fashion. They make the wearer appear taller, with longer-seeming legs and emphasized bust and buttocks to boot. But the drawbacks to high-heeled shoes are in the things you can’t always see, things that probably make a woman (or man — we don’t discriminate here at Try Nerdy) feel less than sexy.
Here’s a list of of some ways that science seems to justify my high heel hate…beauty is pain, indeed:
1. High heels can lead to heel and ankle pain. Well, here’s an obvious one. Although the heel and ankle pain in this case is of a chronic nature, as opposed to pain only when you’re wearing the heels. That is, how much heel-wearing you do today could do you in for pain later in life. In this study that included over 3,300 men and women, over 60% of women reported regularly wearing “poor” shoes (including high heels) in the past, compared to only 2% of men. In women, a significant correlation was found between hind-foot pain and past shoe wear that included high heels.
WTF?
2. High heels alter the electrical activity in your lower back muscles. In this study, women between the ages of 20 and 55 were made to walk across a flat surface without shoes, in low heels (4 cm), or in high heels (10 cm). Higher bioelectrical activity was recorded in the “cervical paraspinal” muscles of the women in high heels, an effect that was even greater if they were 45-55 years old. This was hypothesized by the researchers to not be safe for the spine, and to be a potential risk factor for chronic lower back muscle fatigue.
3. High heels can shorten your muscle fibers and thicken your tendons. Last year, scientists in Austria reported on their findings on women who, perhaps counter-intuitively, feel pain when walking flat-footed. These women were habitual heel-wearers, and ultrasounds revealed their calf muscle fibers to be 13% shorter than those of women who wear flat shoes. Not only that, the women who wore high heels had substantially thicker and stiffer Achilles’ tendons, presumably to compensate for the shortened calf muscle fibers so that the calf could function optimally while walking. However, their thick and stiff tendons couldn’t stretch sufficiently and led to reports of pain in this area.
Hopefully Jessica Simpson incorporates some calf stretches into her day. I will stick with my lean, limber Achilles, thankyouverymuch.
4. High heels can lead to joint degeneration and osteoarthritis of the knee. A study out of Iowa State University focused on three heel heights: 0 inches, 2 inches, and 3.5 inches. The higher the heels were, the more compression that was experienced by the inside of the knee. Findings from a high heel study in Denmark corroborate the knee osteoarthritis link by showing that wearing a 9 cm heel causes the wearer to flex the knee joint significantly more when walking, leading to a large increase of bone-on-bone forces in the knee. The ISU study also found altered joint positions at the ankle, knee, hip, and trunk, which changed overall posture and could cause strain on the lower back.
Should've gone with the flats!
5. High heels can lead to calluses, bunions, and hammertoes. Not sexy. There isn’t too much fancy science here. When you wear heels, gravity pushes your foot forward against the front of the shoe. Also, the front of a high-heeled shoe is often more tapered than a foot is. All that pressing and squeezing into the shoe can mean (1) corns: tough, thickened patches of skin caused by excessive friction and pressure; (2) bunions: the inward turning of the big toe (encouraged by pointy shoes) as a deformity that causes the big toe joint to jut out to one side, and which may be accompanied by swelling; and (3) hammertoes: the permanent curling up of the toes (usually the second, third, or fourth toes), even when the shoes are off, in response to habitually squeezing into shoes that don’t fit.
The ugly truth:
Maybe some of you are calling me a feminist right now, but I call myself an anti-pain-and-chronic-injury-ist. And, I’m not crusading for everyone to give up high heels, just advocating for people to know what they might be in for down the line.
Click the image below to enlarge and read more on the physiological consequences of heel-wearing.
Dufour AB, Broe KE, Nguyen US, Gagnon DR, Hillstrom HJ, Walker AH, Kivell E, & Hannan MT (2009). Foot pain: is current or past shoewear a factor? Arthritis and rheumatism, 61 (10), 1352-8 PMID: 19790125
Mika A, Oleksy Ł, Mikołajczyk E, Marchewka A, & Mika P (2011). Changes of bioelectrical activity in cervical paraspinal muscle during gait in low and high heel shoes. Acta of bioengineering and biomechanics / Wroclaw University of Technology, 13 (1), 27-33 PMID: 21500761
Csapo R, Maganaris CN, Seynnes OR, & Narici MV (2010). On muscle, tendon and high heels. The Journal of experimental biology, 213 (Pt 15), 2582-8 PMID: 20639419
Simonsen EB, Svendsen MB, Norreslet A, Baldvinsson HK, Heilskov-Hansen T, Larsen PK, Alkjær T, & Henriksen M (2011). Walking on High Heels Changes Muscle Activity and the Dynamics of Human Walking Significantly. Journal of applied biomechanics PMID: 21908897
I’m 5’10, so I share in your thankfulness. I can’t do the heels thing for the reason of—well, basically all the images you posted!
I’ve never worn high heels in my life (at 5’7” also not strictly necessary) – even my wedding shoes were flat. I can’t understand why a woman would torture her feet that much.
Cool post. I hate high heels, they make me feel out of control. I was wondering if you wrote it with Dr Isis in mind…
I haven’t heard of a Dr. Isis….I’ll check him/her out!
My impression is that most women wear heels because they think they look attractive, it’s nothing to do with height. Plenty of quite tall women wear heels – it’s ‘the look’ and flat shoes are considered dowdy. I’m wondering what cultural trends are making the ultra-high heel and ‘bondage’ fashion shoes all the rage – some sort of anti-feminism, I suspect.
I mentioned this to the commenter “basm,” but I want to reiterate that I just meant tall women often have an inclination to go without heels because a woman beyond a certain height can be considered unfeminine by some. I know for me it can be awkward to tower around at 6’2″ if I have heels on. And I think many short women wear heels to gain height, but you’re right — it’s mostly to do with fashion.
Good post except for the implication that there is something wrong with being shorter that would make it more of a problem not wearing heals.
I only meant that for tall women there’s often a disincentive to wear heels, because beyond a certain height a woman is often considered less feminine. Didn’t mean to imply that shorter women shouldn’t toss their heels as well!
What I don’t like is the haughty, moralistic tone combined with dire warnings that appear to apply to all high heel wearing, even occasional and special occasion wear, when in fact it’s all about people who wear them all the time.
The illustrations include an Alexander McQueen shoe where the actual position of the foot is actually fairly comfortable inside the odd, sculptural shape, and bondage footwear which is purposefully painful and the wearers of which may not be, uh, standing up, most of the time.
I call moralizing, editorializing and talking down to short women and anyone who has ever worn heels for five minutes.
Not nerdy, not scientific, not cool.
Sorry you felt that way about the post. As a tall woman who does wear heels on special occasions, I can say that I have experienced lasting pain from wearing heels just one night. And of course a woman is more likely to twist her ankle on any occasion of heel-wearing. It always comes with a risk, I think. I personally don’t like the fact that heels persist as a potentially harmful cultural norm for women who have learned from society to feel more beautiful in them. I wish heels didn’t exist, for tall women just as much as short women. But people are free to wear heels, and I think it helps to be aware of what could be in store down the line.
At the end of the day, this is a blog, not a scientific journal, so my opinions and my sarcasm and my judgements will find their way in here.
Thanks for reading.
It was the “shaking your head in pity” that you professed to doing that was a big turn-off. I don’t think women are stupid, and I don’t think anyone thinks wearing high heels is that healthy. But intelligent people make risky choices all the time, see: drugs. That choice gets moralized too. The only benefit of moralizing is that the moralizers get to feel superior, which is definitely a benefit, but limited in scope.
I don’t think this tone helps, if your goal is to make more women consider not wearing heels.
Oh, I was really just trying to take a dig at Jessica Simpson, but I see how that could have been construed as a more broad diss. My apologies (although I won’t apologize for finding Jessica Simpson generally laughable!) I’ll try to consider how I can avoid offending people in the future.
I’m 5’10 and afraid of heights. When I wear heels, I’m constantly facing that fear. Thus, I never wear heels.
Also, I truly believe that it is good for humans to spend plenty of time barefoot. I have no real science to back that up, but my family is from Louisiana, and there is a long-standing tradition of “toe-pinching” (it’s really just reflexology, I suppose) for breaking up calcium deposits in the toes. For most people who endure it, it’s incredibly painful. For those of us who prefer walking around barefoot, it merely tickles. I don’t know if there is any real truth to this myth propagated by my voo-doo magic loving family, but it’s always struck me as a good justification for refusing to put my shoes on.
I’m a man and I hate heels for multiple reasons. The physical damage, for one thing. But they also look bad. I think hiking boots make a person (both male and female) look way better than any high-heeled shoe.
Hey nameless blogger!
Contrary to a few other opinions here I LOVE your article! I came across it when googling “heel positions”
as I was looking for such photos as a “briefing” for a photographer contracted for my shoe-site-in-development.
In my opinion you are absolutely right with what you wrote about high heels, the (wrong) reasons for wearing them, and the consequences of doing so!
I could add another warning to those women who don’t take this article as serious as they should: Sooner or lat, they will also get varices! Looks ugly. Hurts. And increases the risk of heart attacks. You could go on and on.
Yes, my shoe site will (also) show high heel shoes (you can’t do without these days) BUT I’ll indicate my reservations as to wearing too high too often.
Personally, I feel 2 inch is the maximum I can bear wearing all day. And usually my shoes of this kind then have a small platform anyway so the actual difference between heel and toes is more like 1 to 1.5 inch. – WHY do I like to wear (small) heels (not always, but often)? Well, they DO look more attractive (to me and to others). And I want to look attractive!
Question to the author — what height do you call high?
I agree, I HATE heels and two inches is my absolute limit. I won’t even go to 2-1/4 inches. That’s just too high. Warm weather will be coming soon and I shudder at the sight of women literally limping down the street in those things. You can tell they’re in pain. My daughter always wears them (she’s short) even though I tell her she’s going to ruin her feet. She is going to be getting married soon and told her to wear low heels to the reception since she’s going to dancing, etc., but she won’t listen (sigh).
Here’s another reason for not wearing heels. I had an important meeting today and I almost missed my train. I was able to run and catch it just in time. If I had been wearing high heels, I not only would have probably missed it, but would have fallen flat on my face in the process. You can’t run in heels!
I guess I feel similarly to you – beyond 2-1/2 inches, I think heels are too high. I hope you can show this post to your daughter and get her to give her feet a break once in a while! And you make a great point about running…I hate to say it, but women sometimes have to run from bad guys, and wearing heels probably doesn’t help. Glad you caught your train!
Thanks so much for reading, and for the great comments.
Meh, it won’t do any good. I love her dearly, but she’s hard-headed. She’s short and busty (I mean as in DD cup) and wants a strapless wedding gown. I asked her if she really wants to run the risk of “the girls” spilling out when she’s bending over to kiss her 85 year old grandfather, but she just shrugged.
High heels hurt.
Period.
Why does the fashion industry so push them?
And why shouldn’t you be called a ‘feminist’? Hard to think of a better label to carry than that!