Are High Heels Bad for My Feet?

In a perfect world, style and comfort would exist side by side, and you’d never need to trade health for fashion. For those irresistibly drawn to high heels, there’s little common ground. 

Not only are high heels bad for your feet, but they can also be a nightmare right up your body. The podiatry specialists at Doctors United can help you deal with the consequences of pain from high heels. 

With five locations in the Bronx, White Plains, Ardsley, and Yonkers, New York, we’re conveniently located. 

So you can better understand the toll that heels take on your body, let’s review the physical effects that high heels create. 

Unnatural angles

Perhaps the biggest challenge in wearing heels comes from the downhill slope that’s forced upon your feet. The bulk of your weight rests on the ball and toes of your feet. 

This ramping effect potentially leads to six physical effects with negative impacts on the structures of your feet and beyond. These include: 

Posture changes

Posture refers to the overall balance of your body, both at rest and in motion. Good posture reflects an even distribution of load shared from head to toe, while poor posture sees larger than normal loads concentrated in certain areas. 

Poor posture caused by high heels results from the weight that your forefoot is forced to absorb. Your body mechanics automatically shift to restore some type of balance. However, this shift forces other joints out of their normal relationships, most commonly the knees, hips, and lower back. 

Body imbalance

Your feet are your stabilizing connection with the ground, the basis for balance and support of the rest of your body. For that, you require all 26 bones, 33 joints, and supporting soft tissue to maintain stability. 

Yet heels lift about half of your feet out of the balance equation. Anatomical components in your feet and legs must compensate, under strain, to maintain your ability to balance in an upright position. 

Foot pain

High heels force a misalignment of body weight that’s forced onto the ball of the feet, overloading the area and potentially causing chronic pain conditions related to the extra weight forced on the forefoot. 

Arches and heels

The Achilles tendon has a range of motion through which it expands and contracts normally. In heels, the tendon is forced into its contracted position, leading to pain and irritation of the tendon. 

The arches of your feet are held in their curved shape by a band of tissue called the plantar fascia. The uneven distribution caused by wearing heels can cause micro tears in the fascia tissue, causing pain and inflammation that contributes to an often-chronic pain condition called plantar fasciitis. 

Hips and knees

The normal orientation of joints in the hips and knees must adjust to absorb the altered load from high heel weight distributions, leading to aches, pains, and, potentially, deterioration of these joints.

Fractures, sprains, and tears

The lack of foot stability can lead to turned ankles, missed steps, and even simply increased forces that cause stress fractures. 

You can survive life in high heels, but it means moderating the time you’re in them or moderating the height of the heel. When you suffer from pain related to high heels that doesn’t clear with rest and time, contact us at Doctors United at our most convenient location. Book your visit online or call us today.