Italian Researcher Claim Better Sex with High Heels
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_momsatwork/2009/05/high-heels-boost-health-sex-life.html
I have heard many claims about high heels and health but this one really caught me off guard. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Italian researchers have discovered that wearing high heels changes your posture and increases the strength of your pelvic muscles. They took the research findings one step further and say that this will lead to better sex! They also make the claim that ballet style flat shoes have been causing an increase in foot pain and thus it is healthier for your feet to wear high heels.
As a Podiatric Physician, I have never had a patient ask me how footgear could affect their sex life. I am a foot and ankle specialist, but I guess I don’t know everything. I will agree with the researcher’s claim that heels can cause changes in one’s posture. The new posture may be good for your pelvis muscles but bad for your back, knees, and especially your feet. My experience with heels tells me that there must be a better way to have better sex.
Wearing heels causes changes in your center of gravity. In order to stay balanced, your body curves the back. Your butt and your chest sticks out further. Though this may make a woman’s figure more appealing to the wondering eye, it causes disruptive changes in one’s joints and leads to pain. The changes in back curvature causes a decrease in shock absorption. Thus, your back feels more of the stresses caused by standing or walking than normally.
Heels put your foot an abnormal position. Our body is not designed to walk only on the balls of our feet. Thus, many experience pain in their foot, but also in their knees. When in a constant toe pointed position, the foot has less ability to push off the ground. To compensate, the knees bend and our leg muscles have to work harder than normal to walk. The muscles pull on the joints of the knee and foot, which can lead to destructive damage over long periods of time.
There is no such thing as a healthy heel for your feet. Wearing heels increases the likelihood of bunions, corns, open lesions, generalized foot pain, plantar fasciitis…. I could go on for days. The report also talked about how high heels could be better for you than ballet style flat shoes. Many mistakenly think that when their doctor says high heels are bad for you, that flats are healthy- but that is not true. A healthy shoe is one that give s you proper support. The fashionable high heels and flats do not give you any support! Switching to flats after wearing heels for many years can be especially painful. Wearing heels tightens your calf muscles, and wearing flats pulls on the Achilles, and can cause tears in the tendon and muscles.
So if your love life is in a lull, I recommend staying out of high heels. No matter how strong your pelvic muscles are, the pain associated with high heels could be quite distracting between the sheets.
