High Heeled Shoes and Injuries

I know, you just bought that new outfit and you need those high heeled shoes that match. And you know you look "hot" in them. But what are the effects of wearing high heeled shoes on your body? Research says a lot about it.

High-heeled shoes create twice the force onto the big toe
Researchers looked at the joint reaction force of first joint (metatarsophalangeal) from the foot in the big toe, during toe-off phase of fait while walking barefoot and in high-heeled shoes. They found that forces were doubled when walking with high heels.
Barefoot (.8) versus High Heel (1.58) joint reaction force in the MTP joint
Barefoot (.44) versus High Heel (1.03) times body weight in the metatarsal-sesamoid joint


Good chance that high-heeled shoes will lead to knee pain
Osteoarthritis of the knee is twice as common in women as it is in men. Researchers examined the effect of walking in high-heeled shoes and found: 23% increase in force across the patellofemoral joint and 23% increase in force on the medial compartment of the knee

Wide-heeled shoes are no better than narrow-heeled shoes
Wide-heeled shoes has a 30% greater effect on peak external knee flexor torque compared to walking barefoot. Wide-heeled and narrow-heeled shoes increased peak knee varus torque by 26% and 22% respectively.

I hope you probably all know that choosing to wear high heels is not the best for the body. In my next blog I will present information about the moderate heeled shoes.

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Catherine D'Aoust at GAIA Adventures, Personal Training/Kinesiologist, Workshops
www.gaiaadventures.com
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