Get them off! Can’t take high heels anymore? Here’s why.

Photo by Andrew Tanglao on Unsplash

Once upon a time - that now feels very far, far away - I used to wear high heels effortlessly. I would spend the entire day in heels and use the words “heels” and “comfortable” in the same sentence.

Those days are long gone.

I spent most of my 20s in heels. By my early 30s I started wearing flats occasionally and when, in my late 30s I got pregnant, I naively thought I would reunite with my heels after nine months.

But then came ‘the baby’. Countless hours of standing up and walking around with her in my arms to calm her down (they sense when you sit down). These were followed by the toddler days, when adding a few inches of height just did not make sense. It just made her little hand even lower down and more back breaking to hold. And, of course, running after a toddler feels like an Olympic feat in heels.

When the toddler days were over, the time had come. I wanted to feel like a woman again – not just ‘a mother’.

I. Needed. My. Heels. They had been waiting patiently in boxes for years.

Asking the experts

But something strange happened. Stepping into them did not feel the same on so many levels. I did not feel more ‘womanly’. I felt a sort of painful clumsiness… like I had just put a foreign object on my feet and tried to walk. They felt tighter. What happened? Did they shrink in protest for being ignored for so long? Or did my feet grow?

Persist I did, and still do. A little. Like when I wear heels for a nice dinner as I just have to get from the car to the restaurant and back. Not much walking needed. And yet, I still wake up the next morning feeling like I am walking on bruises.

Will I never be able to wear heels effortlessly again? I had to find out, so I went to the experts with my questions.

“I did not feel more ‘womanly’. I felt a sort of painful clumsiness… like I had just put a foreign object on my feet and tried to walk.”

According to the Association of Podiatrists of Malta, pregnancy changes your body and age makes it harder for your feet to re-adapt.

I get it now.

“Pregnancy brings about a lot of changes throughout the body including in the feet.  Increased weight, swelling and hormonal changes lead to changes in the feet including widening and lengthening sometimes leading to a change in shoe size as well,” explains the association.

Shoe size? So that’s why my heels felt tighter!

The association goes on: “Furthermore, flattening of the feet also tends to occur.  These factors and other conditions, which could have been present and exacerbated, could make the wearing of high heels post partum difficult.”

Age also plays a part.

“As we get older changes in our bodies, including our feet, occur. We also become less able to adapt to alterations in the mechanics of our walking. As the use of high heels alters the mechanics of our walking, together with the previously mentioned effects of high heels and pregnancy on the foot and ankle, as we get older it becomes more difficult to return to the use of high heels after a long period of wearing different shoes,” the association explains.

Health over heels

So while younger bodies adapt to wearing heels, as we grow older it gets harder. But this does not mean that younger women who never stop wearing heels into older age are better off.  This is because a heel height of more than two inches is  considered to cause problems both to the feet but also to other joints in the body.

“A heel height of more than two inches can cause a number of problems including shortening of muscles at the back of your calf, increased pressure on the ball of the foot, changes in the stress on other joints such as the knees. The higher the height the higher the effect. 

“There you have it: it’s important that every step we take comes with the necessary support and stability.”

“High heeled shoes cause a lot of problems to the foot and ankle. The increased pressure on the joints in the ball of the foot can cause inflammation in these joints and their surrounding tissues. Most high heeled shoes have a narrow toe box which tends to cause a lot of deformities. These include bunions and overlapping toes which, with increased use and over time, can lead to severe problems with shoe fitting, as well as ingrown toe nails and development of painful callosities,” the association says.

The thickness of the heel affects stability, the association goes on. A thinner heel results in a smaller surface area, leading to less stability. The more unstable, the higher is the risk of injuries such as ankle sprain and strains.  Wedges, for example, offer more stability than the traditional heel shoe, as pressure is distributed over a larger area and not just on two specific points: the heel and the ball of the foot.

So are flats the solution to foot health?

“It is always advised that rather than wearing 'flats', ideally one should wear shoes which are shock absorbing and supportive to the foot and ankle,” the association says.

There you have it: it’s important that every step we take comes with the necessary support and stability, and that pressure is distributed.

But wait? Are we still talking about high heels?