A Scientific Look at the Dangers of High Heels
Just because they’re fashionable doesn’t mean they’re good for you. New research shows just how bad they are.
“The scientists found that heel wearers moved with shorter, more forceful strides than the control group, their feet perpetually in a flexed, toes-pointed position. This movement pattern continued even when the women kicked off their heels and walked barefoot. As a result, the fibers in their calf muscles had shortened and they put much greater mechanical strain on their calf muscles than the control group did.
In that control group, the women who rarely wore heels, walking primarily involved stretching and stressing their tendons, especially the Achilles tendon. But in the heel wearers, the walking mostly engaged their muscles.”
“Several studies have shown that optimal muscle-tendon efficiency” while walking “occurs when the muscle stays approximately the same length while the tendon lengthens. When the tendon lengthens, it stores elastic energy and later returns it when the foot pushes off the ground. Tendons are more effective springs than muscles. So by stretching and straining their already shortened calf muscles, the heel wearers walk less efficiently with or without heels, requiring more energy to cover the same amount of ground as people in flats and probably causing muscle fatigue.”
