A Romanian man, known as the “shoe architect” has created a line of stilettos that will increase a women’s height by twelve inches! Mihai Albu claims his shoes are distinctly appealing to most women since many do not have long legs. The shoes are miraculous sculptress of beauty. With feathers and jewels, skull heads and curves, he has created masterpieces for fashion. Not only are these shoe eye catching, they are also wallet drying! A pair of Mihai Albu’s shoes cost over $1,500. That is a lot of money, for something I would never put on my feet!
Yes, these shoes are beautiful and truly a piece of art, but probably the most ridiculous thing you could put on your feet. We would all like to be a little taller, but at what expense? Not only will these shoes hurt the pocketbook, they will also hurt the foot and ankle and all other body parts that hit floor after an easy accident in these towering skyscraper shoes.
Have you ever sprained your ankle? The first reason to not wear these shoes is an ankle sprain. After an ankle sprain or other similar injuries, your ligaments get damaged and weakened. Your ankle is inevitably less stable and you are prone to more injuries in the future. Not really a good idea to jump into intensely tall shoes that gives you zero protection to the ankle and makes you quite unstable. I would give you two hours in these shoes before you injured yourself, and I am being generous!
Do the balls of your feet ever hurt? Your foot is not designed to walk only on the balls of your feet and your toes. This week, I removed a fractured bone from women in her 20s. She injured her sesamoid bone, a small bone near your big toe. The injury occurred while dancing in high heels all night at a wedding. She unfortunately could not heal the bone and it had to be removed. Stress fractures are also common. To heal these types of fractures, surgery is usually not necessary. The area will need to be immobile in a surgical boot or cast. A severely unattractive and cumbersome device that has to be worn in replace of your cute high heels.
High heels are attractive and fashionable. I understand why women love to buy them and wear them. Many of them are truly pieces of art, but some should just be art. Not all shoe skyscrapers should be worn. Many should be admired from the store window or from the box. As soon as they hit the feet, they are disastrous. Be sensible.
Showing posts with label high heels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high heels. Show all posts
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Kelly Ripa’s Charity is a Podiatrists Nightmare
Many know Kelly Ripa for her days in daytime drama starring on the legendary soap opera All My Children. She fell into superstardom when she hit the talk show host scene on Regis and Kelly. Now Kelly is turning heads while racing through central park in high heels!!! In an annual charity event sponsored by Regis and Kelly and Zappos.com, Kelly and many other women raced in high heels. The event was to raise awareness and money for women’s heart heath and The Heart Truth, a national campaign combating women’s heart disease. I am all about raising money for good causes, but in 3 inch stilettos? Running in high heels is near insanity.
Running shoes are designed specifically to absorb the impact of running and accommodating the foot forces on the terrain. When running, your feet take on an impact of forces that is three times greater than your weight. Athletic shoes are made out of shock absorbing materials that help reduce the amount force that gets transmitted through your knees and back.
There is a growing culture of runners who are ditching shoes all together and going barefoot. Some small studies have been done looking at the biomechanics of this naked foot running, but most results have been inconclusive. The current belief is that when running barefoot, you change your running style and run more on your toes than your heel. This promotes a softer step and less impact is transmitted through your body. It is also noted that you must have a healthy, rectus foot for barefoot running to be beneficial. Unfortunately, most Americans do not have a healthy foot structure.
So if running on your toes causes less impact and high heels force you to bear all of your weight on your toes, shouldn’t stiletto racing be to our benefit? In high heels, your foot doesn’t have any control. You are still confined to the narrow space of tight shoe. It is also difficult to clear the heel from hitting the ground. The distinct style of barefoot running that causes less impact on the body takes many months of training and foot strengthening. I cannot find any correlation between the benefits of forefoot running, or barefoot running and high heel running.
Nail avulsion or damage, blisters, lacerations, sprains, and fractures are only a few injuries that will dominate a stiletto race. I think it would be easier to run to the ATM in sneakers. I’ll happily donate to the cause, but you won’t be catching me in red high heels, especially since I am not that kind of guy. It is very commendable for these women to stand up to women’s heart disease and I am inspired by their strength and daring attitude. Hopefully they all survived the race with healthy feet and hearts full of joy. Kelly Ripa always keeps us on our toe! If you have an inspiring way to raise awareness of heart disease, visit http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/index.htm.
Running shoes are designed specifically to absorb the impact of running and accommodating the foot forces on the terrain. When running, your feet take on an impact of forces that is three times greater than your weight. Athletic shoes are made out of shock absorbing materials that help reduce the amount force that gets transmitted through your knees and back.
There is a growing culture of runners who are ditching shoes all together and going barefoot. Some small studies have been done looking at the biomechanics of this naked foot running, but most results have been inconclusive. The current belief is that when running barefoot, you change your running style and run more on your toes than your heel. This promotes a softer step and less impact is transmitted through your body. It is also noted that you must have a healthy, rectus foot for barefoot running to be beneficial. Unfortunately, most Americans do not have a healthy foot structure.
So if running on your toes causes less impact and high heels force you to bear all of your weight on your toes, shouldn’t stiletto racing be to our benefit? In high heels, your foot doesn’t have any control. You are still confined to the narrow space of tight shoe. It is also difficult to clear the heel from hitting the ground. The distinct style of barefoot running that causes less impact on the body takes many months of training and foot strengthening. I cannot find any correlation between the benefits of forefoot running, or barefoot running and high heel running.
Nail avulsion or damage, blisters, lacerations, sprains, and fractures are only a few injuries that will dominate a stiletto race. I think it would be easier to run to the ATM in sneakers. I’ll happily donate to the cause, but you won’t be catching me in red high heels, especially since I am not that kind of guy. It is very commendable for these women to stand up to women’s heart disease and I am inspired by their strength and daring attitude. Hopefully they all survived the race with healthy feet and hearts full of joy. Kelly Ripa always keeps us on our toe! If you have an inspiring way to raise awareness of heart disease, visit http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/index.htm.