The release of the new Sex and the City movie has led to thousands of Irish females to check out Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda’s latest adventures.
But it isn’t just their glossy and glamorous lives that entrance women everywhere, it’s their never-ending collection of fashions and fancy footwear.
The Sex and the City franchise made Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Cosmopolitans and Rampant Rabbits famous, but its real legacy may be the rise in chronic foot and back problems.
The iconic series has made it fashionable for ladies to step out in towering stilettos but this trend is leading to an increase in foot pain, foot deformities, clawed toes, bunions and back pain, as women totter on sky-scraping Carrie-style heels.
Bunions
Victoria Beckham is even considering surgery for her bunions as a result of years wearing her beloved high heels. The former Spice Girl has recently been spotted wearing flip-flops, even though she famously claimed she “couldn’t concentrate in flats”.
A bunion is a bony bump at the base of the big toe joint. This becomes painfully inflamed when shoes rub against it, a problem made worse by high heels, which throw the body weight forward.
Mother-of-three Victoria has already been advised to have a bunionectomy, which involves the surgeon cutting into the toe joint then re-aligning the toe bone and securing it with screws. Such a procedure would mean she would have to take time off from her busy work schedule and would force her out of her heels for months.
Women pay a high price for fashion. It is very common to see them walk, like newborn calves, in an attempt to stay upright in their shoes.
At dinner balls and weddings women are often seen carrying their shoes just a few hours into the evening. It means that they get to look good temporarily but feel terrible long term.
Yet women proclaim to love them because they make them feel more powerful, make their legs look longer and make them feel more glamorous.
Training also increases confidence, makes women feel more powerful and as their shape changes they would feel confident to wear shorter skirts which would also make their legs longer without having to resort to wearing stilettos. But it does take more effort.
The construction of high-heeled shoes forces changes in the posture of the wearer that result in a sexy, undulating walk.
The problem with them is that they force the ball of the foot to bear the entire burden of walking, rather than distributing the weight evenly. New Zealand doctor Vic Barker, in his book Posture Makes Perfect, says that a two-inch pair of heels tips the body forward 22.5 degrees while a four-inch pair tips the body forward 45 degrees.
Muscles
As the heel height increases, the kinetic chain must progressively compensate, from the ankles through to the head, as the brain knows the eyes must be level with the horizon at all times.
The head weighs approximately eight per cent of body weight and so for every inch the head moves forward as a result of altered posture, the load on the back of the neck muscles increases.
If the head is tilted three inches forward, the load is equal to three times the weight of the head on the neck muscles.
Hyperextension of the knees is another common postural fault caused by wearing high-heeled shoes. High heels shorten the calf muscles of the gastrocnemius and soleus. As these muscles shorten, they pull the knee back, lengthening and weakening the hamstrings, and tilt the pelvis forward, which shortens the hip muscles on the front.
If a woman has been wearing four-inch heels for a long period of time and commences exercise such as running, she will increase her risk of a calf strain or even an Achilles tendon tear as it will take time for the muscle to stretch and regain flexibility after it has been shortened from wearing heels.
A pelvic tilt is correlated to excessive curvature of the low back and it affects the functioning of the abdominal wall. A tilted pelvis distends your abdomen and to prevent you from falling over, the body extends itself backwards, shortening your back muscles and compressing your vertebrae.
Muscle imbalances are caused as the body is forced to compensate because of the change in the centre of gravity. Therefore it is important to stretch your hip and calf muscles and do a few ankle rotations after you wear your heels.
If you must wear them, you should first get your feet measured. They may not be growing but your foot’s shape transforms with age and body weight.
As a rule, thin heels are more difficult to balance on than block heels or wedges. Round, square and open toes are much more comfortable than pointed toes. If you really want to wear points, then make sure your toes are not sitting where the shoe starts to taper.
If after trying these tips you are still having problems, you may want to consider flats because there’s no point in looking good if you are feeling terrible.
