Heels. I love heels. And I’ve been in love with heels ever since I was 16. I had my 20th anniversary with heels yesterday, and it was a difficult one. My FUSTRA personal trainer Maria noticed that my knees seemed uneven during the workout session and I said they did feel odd. First one became all swollen and later on that night the other one did too. This was thanks to my gorgeous new shoes I wore a lot last week– and I walked more than usual.
Luckily I had also bought lovely Vagabond sneakers because now I’m only able to wear flat shoes this week. This feels so strange. The posture is different, and I feel so short. But on a serious note, wearing high heels has taken its toll during our 20 years together.
While I find that my posture when wearing heels feels regal, some claim that it increases the sagginess of the breasts as one pushes the shoulders forward a little when standing on heels. I personally don’t think this happens for me, but that is what I read.
What I do agree that I’ve managed to do is shorten my back muscles with the arch that high heels cause to the lower back/pelvis area. This illustration really showed me how my posture has become what it is now and what I’m trying to fix.
Also the foot and toe problems have become apparent, and no wonder when looking at this x-ray of a foot in a high heel shoe. This should be shown to all young girls to understand what you are doing when wearing heels: creating a short Achilles tendon, and short and tight calves. Also the sole membranes tighten and tendons suffer. When the feet are used to this position, it’s then hard to walk longer distances in flat shoes with all that tightness that the heels have caused.
Why do we want to physically suffer for our looks? I still want to wear heels even though there are all sorts of posture related issues . . . .
What would you say to a person who says “I still want to spend $12 on a bra for my 32F breasts”?
You can pry my heels from my cold, dead feet!
Everything in moderation. Just wear the heels less often and not more than a day or two in a row. And wear good quality flats the rest of the time. Or insoles if you like fashionable impractical sneakers like Converse.
Have you found that wearing heels has effected your equitation? Thinking about the rare times I wear heels, I can tell my pelvis is rotating too much, something I already had a problem with before starting dressage.
I’ve found making a series of dressmaker croquis (profile outlines) has been great for tracking the ways my posture has changed.