Why Wearing High Heels Could Be Dangerous?

Attention ladies and ladies!! The die hard lovers of high heels be it a pair of pumps, stilettos, platforms or high ankle booties most of the women go crazy for high heels. Wearing high heels reflects a sexy appealing look and one looks real sensible, seductive and confident. Heels give even the shortest of women long sexy legs which looks great with pretty much any outfit screaming femininity. The latest trend of high heels makes women feel stylish, sexy and attractive but has got several bad effects on women health too. Let’s find out the reasons why high heels are dangerous for health.

Lower Back Pain

Walking in heels for a prolonged time or even simply standing on heels leads to lower back pain, as I have personally felt the severe pain in my lower back. Wearing high heels actually cause your pelvis to push forward when you walk or stand, placing tremendous pressure on your lower back causing prolonged pain.

Joint Pain

Unlike other types of shoes, heels lack significant shock absorption. Wearing heels also prevents your foot from naturally rotating as you walk as they’re consistently forced into a straight and unbending position. This causes the knee to absorb the brunt and pressure of every step, which leads to severe joint pain and an exacerbation of arthritis symptoms. Your ankle also absorbs some of the shock as well.

Damages Leg and Foot Muscles

Wearing high heels the heel of the foot stays pointed in an unnaturally upward position which leads to the shortening of the Achilles tendon, a band of muscles at the base of the calf. The shortening of this tendon and other calf muscles can cause chronic pain in legs and muscle spasms. The tightening of these muscles can also cause plantar fasciitis which is the inflammation of a band of muscles in the bottom of the foot called the plantar fascia.

Causes Sciatica

Wearing high heels requires you to shift your body weight to adjust according to the tilting of the foot, the arching of your back and the pelvis puts pressure on lower back muscles. Women who wear high heels frequently suffer from sciatica, the chronic leg pain or numbness in the leg that could make standing, sitting, or walking extremely uncomfortable and even excessively painful.

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Damages Bone

According to researchers walking too long in heels can cause stress fractures or cracks in the bones of the feet. And if you regularly walk long distances or stand for long periods of time throughout the day wearing those heels, occasionally opting a pair of flats can help to reduce the strain on the bones of the feet.

Causes Strain in Neck

The altered posture that you adopt to accommodate wearing heels can cause damage to your upper body as well as your lower body. Wearing heels can cause a forward head posture, which strains neck muscles leading to prolonged pain and cramps.

Shortened Achilles Tendon

One of the more worrying side effects of wearing high heels, according to Live Science, women who wear heels for a prolonged time period in their life actually shorten their Achilles tendon. With the heel in the lifted position, your heels can actually create a physiologically change in the muscles and tendons around the ankles, that means when you’re barefoot or wearing flats and shoes that cause immense pain and stretching to reach the ground.

Ingrown Toenails

Most of the heels have got a pointy or almond-shaped toe, despite of the fact that the end of your foot is more like square. And that end of the foot take a lot of the pressure as they get pressed against the sides and the end of the shoe.

High heels hence cause your feet to slide down crushing your toes which leads to ingrown toenails. Ingrown toenails usually occur when the side of your toenail starts growing into your flesh which is seriously painful.

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Falling and Sprained Ankles

Wearing flats your weight is spread evenly between the ball of your foot and the heel with very little pressure on your ankle. But heels cause drastic imbalance between the heel and the ball that the ankle gets forced to become the fulcrum for your entire body. And since your ankles aren’t built to take that kind of immense pressure, falls and gets twisted or sprained that can be pretty expected.

Causes Dysfunction of Menstruation

Most importantly the potential problems caused due to wearing high heels relates to menstrual cycles, fertility and abdominal function. When you wear high-heels, the pressure on the front of the foot causes you to neutralize by excessive forward tilting of the pelvis and if left unchecked, this can lead to menstrual dysfunction increasing period cramps and pains as well as affecting the ability to conceive.