Today I feel like writing about… high heels! Yes, exactly- about women and wearing high heels. Now you are thinking, “Ines, stop being jealous, that we can wear high heels!”… and you are gonna be right that I have some dose of jealousy, because I am almost 6 feet 2 inches tall and if I put on high heels, I will look more like Gulliver, than like a sexy, well dressed chick! 😉
But today my thoughts aren’t born out of jealousy. I just decided to share with you the information that is being “stocked” in my head, and try to confuse you completely for a minute or two 😉 so you can give the topic some thought!
In order to understand why high heels aren’t the best option, you should first know how a good posture looks like or in other words what is a neutral posture.
In order to maintain such a posture, the muscles of your body should have balance between each other, in order to keep your spine aligned. A neutral spine does not mean a flat spine, because the spine has its natural curvatures. I will save you the science overload, and I will just mention that the spine has an S-shaped form. When you are in a neutral posture, your body is strong and it can optimally efficient, while still minimally stressing the joints!
High heels lead to significant changes in your neutral posture. The heels change the distribution of the weight of your body, by shifting it forward. Thus, the foot gets in a position, where your toes is pointing down, shifting the weight of your body, to the front part of the foot. And here is the correlation- the higher the heels, the more the weight is shifted to the front of the foot!
With the change in distribution of the weight, shifting it to the front, the other parts of the body are trying to compensate, in order to maintain the balance of the posture. Thus you change the angle of your stance and the way you walk- your butt is sticking out, your hips swing and your spine is curved more than normal. Take a look at the pictures below.
Somewhere I read that when you walk on high heels, the knee must absorb 23 % more force, than if you walk barefoot.
Besides that the weight of the body is meant to be distributed evenly on the foot, and with the high heels it is shifted forward, which loads your foot way to much, and leads to unwanted pain.
Here I remember the fact that muscles and tendons are a malleable tissue, which is altered in response to some kind of stress. Wearing high heels, on a daily basis, could lead to shortening of the “calf muscles” and it could cause stiffness in your lower leg, which leads to a limited ankle mobility!( read more HERE)
This makes me think about a lot of women, who come to train with me and at first they can’t squat with proper technique, because they have a lot of ankle mobility issues. The next time, I will tell them to throw their high heels, before they walk in the gym! 😉
But as Carry Bradshow would say, every woman has her right to shoes! 😉 Personally I don’t wear high heels, but I make the mistake to train with sneakers that don’t have a flat sole, which is still not good!
So, while I am writing this post, I intend on trying the shoes with a flat sole, even if I have a strong “relationship” with higher shoes, from the 6 years on the basketball court!
And you don’t rush to throw your high heels, but think twice before wearing them every day!
Do you wear high heels? What is your opinion?
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