We get it.
Nothing completes the perfect outfit better than a gorgeous pair of high heels.
They're glamorous, they're eye-catching, and they give you those three inches of height
that your gene pool shorted you.
"Your shoes.
I want your shoes."
But unfortunately for high heel lovers everywhere, it turns out that they might not be so great
for you.
Fortunately, the damage caused by wearing high heels isn't always permanent.
So if you've decided to ditch the stilettos for good, get ready to reap the benefits of
the flat-footed life.
Longer legs Okay, so it isn't like your legs will magically
grow when you stop wearing heels, but your calf muscles will certainly lengthen.
If you wear heels all the time, you'll start to see changes in your legs and feet, and
one of those changes is that you're shortening your calf muscle over time.
This can mean heel pain and plantar fasciitis.
But the good news is that ditching your high heels can really help you heal, even undoing
some of the damage.
Your calf muscles will start to stretch back to their normal length, helping to reduce
pain.
It might not happen overnight, but you'll be on the road to recovery right away.
Farewell, back pain!
You might think that wearing high heels only affects your feet and legs, but that's not
the whole story.
The reality is there are damaging effects that these kinds of shoes can manifest much
higher up on your body and it's all thanks to a chain reaction.
When you're wearing heels, you naturally tilt your pelvis back to compensate, but this puts
pressure on your lumbar spine and the muscles around it.
This can not only cause your pelvis to go out of alignment, but it can also give you
some pretty irritating back pain.
Fortunately, there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Your pelvis does go back into alignment once you stop wearing heels, so there's one reason
to invest in a nice collection of supportive flats.
Happy toes Your calves, heels, and back aren't the only
parts of your body that suffer when you don stilettos; you might also be putting your
toes at risk.
One condition that can plague your little piggies as a result is the loss of physical
sensation, because of pinched and pressed nerves.
This can cause burning, tingling, and numbness, or even more serious complications.
"I feel like I walked all the way from Mississippi."
Taking the pressure off means you're less at risk for causing severe damage - and you
might start to feel your toes again soon.
Preventing deformities There are also more severe problems that can
develop as a result of prolonged high heel use.
A bunion is a bony bump that develops on the inside of your foot at the base of your big
toe joint.
And a hammertoe is a toe that has an abnormal bend in the middle joint that causes the toe
to look like a hammer.
Neither are very comfortable, to say the least.
If you haven't developed these deformities yet, there's still time to avoid them by jettisoning
your gorgeous-yet-impractical heels.
Prevention is key here.
Save those knees You guessed it: wearing high heels is bad
for your knees, too.
In fact, according to a study in The Lancet, high heels might contribute to osteoarthritis
of the knee in women.
The study, which observed 20 women who were comfortable in high heel shoes, concluded
that high heel use puts added pressure on the knees and can predispose you to degenerative
changes in the knee joint.
According to one of the study authors, switching from heels to flats can reduce the impact
on our knees between 19 and 26%.
"Oh, no no no, I'm sorry, I saw these first.
Can you wrap these up for me, please?"
More stability You don't have to be a natural klutz to injure
yourself in high heels.
That's because wearing them shifts your natural balance point outside of where it's supposed
to be.
This makes your body much less stable and you're much more likely to fall.
And the higher the heel, the greater your chances of taking a tumble.
There's also the risk of ankle injuries, which are more common when wearing heels.
According to a study in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, the less you
wear heels, the less likely you are to injure your ankles - and the stronger your ankles
will be.
Walk this way Despite how confidently many women stride
by in impossibly high heels, long-term high heel use alters the neuromechanics of how
we walk, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
The study concluded that long-term high heel wearers show compromised muscle efficiency
while walking.
Basically, long-term high heel use changed participants' strides and default foot position
- even when they weren't wearing the heels.
So can anything be done to prevent this?
Yep!
Just switch to sneakers or supportive flats to avoid the predicament.
Take it slow If you're considering getting rid of high
heels after wearing them for a long time, science says your body might need a little
bit of time to recover.
Re-adjusting means challenging different muscles, tendons, and ligaments, which can be uncomfortable
or painful in the short term.
But with a slow switch from heels to flats, you can minimize your discomfort.
So before you head to Goodwill with a donation box full of heels, you might want to keep
a few pairs around as you transition.