Regular Use of High-Heeled Shoes Changes Mechanics of Walking
21.05.12
According to the researchers, it’s known that habitual use of high-heeled shoes has physical consequences, including shortening of the medial gastrocnemius (part of the calf muscle), and stiffening of the Achilles tendon that runs from the bottom of the calf to the heel. The purpose of the new study was to investigate whether these physical changes had physiological consequences.
Participants in the study were habitual high-heeled shoe wearers who had worn shoes with 2-inch or higher heels, 40 or more hours a week, for at least 2 years. These participants were compared to a control group of women who wore high-heeled shoes no more than 10 hours per week. The researchers measured a variety of forces, muscle lengths, and joint kinematics while women from both groups walked at self-selected paces.
There were several important findings of the study. First, walking in high-heeled shoes causes significant muscle strain as compared to walking barefoot. Second, habitual high-heeled shoe users exhibited higher muscle activation than non-users even when walking barefoot. This decreases the efficiency of walking and increases the likelihood of muscle strains in habitual high-heeled shoe users relative to women who don’t regularly wear high-heeled shoes.
Source: Highlight HEALTH