Love the way high heels look on your feet? Strappy, little sandals and pumps with 3-inch heels are popular among women of all ages, but wearing them too often has its drawbacks. A new study published in The International Journal of Clinical Practice shows that wearing heels, especially if you’re not doing ankle strengthening exercises, creates muscle imbalances that can lead to injury.
High Heels and Muscle Imbalances
Researchers at Hanseo University in Seosan, Korea assessed the ankle strength and dynamic balance of 40 healthy young women who wore almost 4-inch heels at work more than three days a week. Then they followed them for four years to see what effect wearing heels would have on their ankles. During the first three years, wearing high heels actually strengthened the muscles that invert the ankle, but around the four year mark the participants began to develop muscle imbalances in the four functional ankle muscles that plantar flex, point the toes down, dorsiflex, point the toes up, evert and invert the ankle (move it from side to side). Unfortunately, muscle imbalances in these important muscles increase the risk for injury.
This isn’t the first study to point out the risks of wearing high heels. According to the American Podiatric Medical Association, wearing high heels over time can lead to shortening of the Achilles tendon and increase the risk for tendonitis and calf and ankle injuries. Other problems associated with wearing high heels include neuromas (excessive growth of nerve tissue), inflammation and swelling of the sesamoid bones in the toes, and pain and inflammation in the balls of the feet – not to mention unwanted blisters, corns, calluses and bunions due to the added stress of placed on the feet and ankles. No wonder heels are risky. When you wear a 3-inch heel, it increases the load on the balls of your feet by 7 times!
Some women seem better able to tolerate wearing heels than others. Whether you find them tolerable or miserable has a lot to do with the structure of your foot. People with higher arches are more comfortable wearing heels than those with flat feet. Not all admit it, but a lot of women experience discomfort when wearing heels. A survey conducted by the American Podiatric Medical Association found more than 70% of high heel wearers find them to be uncomfortable. The same survey showed that many women wear them despite experiencing pain and discomfort. What IS a high heel anyway? According to the American Podiatric Medical Association, a high heel is any heel over two inches in height.
The reality is high heels alter your body alignment and the way your body moves. When you walk in high heels, your heel doesn’t strike the ground when you take a step as it does in a flat shoe. This forces you to bend your knee, throwing your hips and pelvis into an abnormally flexed, shortened position, which throws off the alignment of your back. No wonder people who wear high heels often complain of back pain! Not to mention, high heels destroys your posture, which can lead to problems anywhere along your body from the neck down.
High Heel Therapy: How to Avoid Toe, Ankle and Foot Problems
Obviously, the best approach is to wear flat shoes or shoes with heels that are two inches or less in height. When you do wear high heels, limit the time you wear them. Wearing them once or twice a week for a few hours will put less stress on your feet and ankles than wearing them all day every day. If you can’t break yourself of the high heel habit or have to wear them to work, do exercises to strengthen your ankles.
Exercises That Strengthen the Ankles
Believe it or not, standing and balancing on one leg, on a firm or an unstable surface, is a simple way to boost ankle strength. When you do this, you force the supporting muscles in your ankle to work harder to keep you balanced. Once you’ve mastered the exercise, try it holding a pair of dumbbells. Exercise tubing also comes in handy for strengthening your ankles. Wrap the tubing around the ball of your foot. With your heel on the ground, push the ball of your foot towards the floor as you hold on to the tubing. The tubing creates resistance that will strengthen the muscles that plantar flex, or point the toes down, over time.
To strengthen plantar flexion and dorsiflexion, place your hands on a table that’s about hip height. Lift yourself up onto your toes and hold for 10 seconds. Slowly return to the starting position and rock back so that your weight is on your heels. Hold again for 10 seconds. Keep repeating. You can also do this by standing on a small stack of books with the balls of your feet on the books and your heels touching the ground. Slowly lift your heels up off the floor and hold for a few seconds, then bring them back down.
To strengthen ankle invertors and evertors that turn your ankles in and out, try these isometric inversion and eversion exercises. For the invertors, place the inside of your foot against a table or other firm, vertical surface. Try to turn your foot in towards the table against resistance. Then work your evertors by placing the outside of your foot against a firm surface and try to turn it outwards. Do these exercises consistently and you’ll gradually develop greater ankle strength.
The Bottom Line
If possible, don’t put your ankles at risk by wearing heels higher than two inches. If you do, don’t wear them every day or stand on them for hours. Also, work on strengthening your ankles to lower your risk for injury.
References:
The International Journal of Clinical Practice. “Reducing the frequency of wearing high-heeled shoes and increasing ankle strength can prevent ankle injury in women” 1 June 2015.
American Podiatric Medical Association. “New Study Shows High Heels are Biggest Culprit of Female Foot Pain”
American Association for Women Podiatrists. “High Heels – High Fashion That Can Hurt Your Feet”
PR Newswire. “New Study Shows High Heels are Biggest Culprit of Female Foot Pain”
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