H<\/span>igh-heeled shoes (high heels) are often seen as a powerful symbol of female sexuality and confidence. Studies have even found them to increase a woman\u2019s attractiveness and influence over her male counterparts. But, as many studies suggest, their long-term use might be associated with more problems than benefits.<\/p>\n Long-term use of high heels can cause irreversible damage to the foot and the muscles and tendons around the ankle. Cramming your toes into a narrow toe box can cause irreversible changes to the structure of the foot \u2013 bunions, bunionettes, and hammertoe deformities \u2013 that might require surgery.<\/p>\n High heels have also been linked to inflamed tendons of the leg muscles, osteoarthritis of the knee, Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and lower back pain. Seems like a lot of risk for the perfect pair of pumps \u2013 right?!<\/p>\n When you raise your ankle 2-inches above your toes, the resulting position of the ankle and foot is termed \u201cequinus\u201d or plantar flexion.<\/p>\n As background, the meaning of equine is \u201cof, relating to, or resembling a horse.\u201d Yes \u2013 your ankle now resembles that of a horse. In this plantarflexed position, the muscles and tendons of the back of your leg \u2013 the calf muscles and Achilles tendon \u2013 are effectively shortened.<\/p>\n Chronic positioning of the foot in this position can cause stiffness and restrictive motion, resulting in conditions such as Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis of the ankle and foot, respectively. These are often very difficult conditions to treat and can lead to long-term pain and other symptoms with exercise and activity.<\/p>\n Although both of these conditions can be appropriately treated with conservative measures, the cure might require extensive physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medications and modalities, and even injections.<\/p>\n Regular stretching of the calf muscles, Achilles tendon, and plantar fascia might help prevent these conditions if you\u2019re a frequent wearer of high heels. Not to mention limiting your time in these raised shoes!<\/p>\n The narrow toe box of these types of shoes is also associated with its fair share of problems, particularly if these shoes are worn consistently for more than 6 to 8 hours a day.<\/p>\n Cramming your toes into a narrow shoe places the foot into an unnatural position and can result in a number of associated orthopedic conditions. Hammertoe is a lesser toe deformity characterized by the toe sitting in a flexed (rather than flat) position. The condition might cause painful corns to develop on the toe, limiting an individual\u2019s ability to wear other shoes pain-free.\nIf conservative measures fail (for example: switching to a shoe with a wider toe box), this might require surgery.<\/p>\n Hallux valgus, commonly referred to as a bunion, is a complex first-toe deformity that has continually been linked to shoes with a high-heel and narrow toe box (read: high heels!). In fact, high heels are the most common extrinsic risk factor for this condition!<\/p>\n The condition typically results in pain and prominence of the MTP joint of the big toe, which might also limit shoe wear due to the position of the foot. Hammertoe deformity, callosities, and compression of the digital nerves in the foot can result from this problem, further complicating the patient\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n First-line treatment of a bunion is always conservative, including shoe modification, spacers, and foot orthoses or inserts. However, surgical correction is commonly required when these modalities fail to help the patient.<\/p>\n A bunionette deformity, commonly referred to as a tailor\u2019s bunion is a prominence over the opposite (lateral) side of the foot caused again by chronic compression of the forefoot, most commonly related to shoe wear. The condition is associated with painful callus formation over the outside of the foot and can further limit shoe wear. And, once again, failure of conservative treatments might also require surgery to correct the problem.<\/p>\n So, how can you prevent the problems associated with high-heels?<\/p>\n My first suggestion is to limit the amount of time spent in these shoes. Most of the conditions associated with high-heels are chronic problems that develop over long periods of time.<\/p>\n Avoid consecutive days in high heels and instead swap in a pair of flats or running shoes when you can.<\/p>\n Secondly, stretch!<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve mentioned, tightening of the muscles and tendons around the foot and ankle can lead to significant problems over time. If high-heels are a regular part of your shoe attire, spend an appropriate amount of time stretching the muscles of your legs (mainly your calf and Achilles tendon) to maintain your flexibility and range of motion.<\/p>\n Stretching will help prevent some of the common problems associated with tight muscles and tendons that can develop with long-term wearing of high-heels.<\/p>\n Good luck!<\/p>\n Where did I go wrong? You mean high heels did what to my feet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2022","category-spring-summer-2022-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12402"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12486,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12402\/revisions\/12486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Dr. Andrew Dold, MD<\/a> is an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"