What's Hiding in Your Closet?

Does your shoe collection consist mostly of

High Heels

or

Flats?

Which one is better? Surprisingly neither.

Both heels and flats can be painful on the feet. I bet you’re not surprised that high heels cause havoc on the feet. So why do women wear heels even though they are uncomfortable, cause injuries to the feet, and are difficult to walk in? Women wear high heels for a number of reasons like they want to appear taller, attract attention, and to accentuate the female form. High heels force the back to arch, pushing the chest forward and the butt outward, but also causes stress fractures in the foot, possible hammertoes, bunions and a whole array of other problems.

What may have been surprising are flats. If you’ve been steering clear of the heels in favor of flats this summer, you should consider that flats often lack arch support. Without support, the arch has the potential to collapse which can result in an unbalanced walk. This can cause pain in the knee, hip and back.

Recommendations:

• Wear heels 2 inches or lower 
• Purchase flats with support near the arch of the foot 
• Rotate your shoes. No matter how comfortable, the same shoes should not be worn everyday.

Citations:

Image by Markusram. (2011). CC BY-ND 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/markusram/3772193259/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Image by Vicky Ras. (2011). Retrieved from vickyras.wordpress.com