How To Manage Pain From Wearing High Heels?
September 30th, 2009
Author: Girls, how do you manage the pain if you’re feet hurt from wearing heels. Do you just ignore it or do you make steps to minimize it one way or another?
September 30th, 2009 Author: Powered by WordPress Theme ValidThemes.com | Wordpress Themes made free by AccuWebHosting - Windows VPS company..
If you do it right there is little or no discomfort! My highest heels are 5 1/2″ peek toe stilettos and I can wear them all day as long as I’m not trying to walk trails or something. If someone else who’s never worn heels put my stilettos on they would probably want them off in about 5 minutes. Your feet have to adjust over time to wearing them and some people either don’t have the patience to do it or do it right!
I’d start out with say 3″ heels and then go to higher ones as you get comfortable with them. Your feet do adjust to it and shoes that were once painful to my feet years ago feel totally comfortable now.
A second point is the size! With higher heels like over 4″ especially, get the nearest half size as you can. The shoe should be snug but not binding and with some you may want to put cushion strips or pads in them to make them fit or feel better. To me feeling a bit snug is better than a bit loose because it’ll feel better to your feet having more snug contact area at the toe of the shoe versus being a bit loose and having a couple bad pressure points that make your foot sore.
High-heeled shoes slant the foot forward and down while bending the toes up.
The more that the feet are forced into this position, the more it may cause the Achilles Tendon to shorten. When the foot slants forward, a much greater weight is transferred to the ball of the foot, increasing the likelihood of damage to the underlying soft tissue which supports the foot.
The best design for a high-heel is one where the heel is closer to the front, more solidly under the ankle, and where forward movement of the foot in the shoe is kept in check, rather than by toes jamming together in the toe box.
But there are steps (so to speak) you can take to minimize the damage:
1. Get a regular massage. Massage can really help with delayed muscle soreness and fatigue from the abnormal stress from high heeled shoes.
2. Stretching your toes after taking off your shoes can be quite helpful. This helps increase the circulation to the poor little tootsies that are cramped in your shoes.
3. Stretch your Achilles tendon and calf muscles at least every day if not twice a day. Regular stretching can help combat the shortening of the Achilles tendon that occurs from chronic wearing of high heel shoes. This shortening can lead to tendonitis and heel pain!
4. Core strengthening exercises can help stabilize your feet and decrease the stress from high heeled shoes. Every woman should do core exercises at least three times a week. They help with back pain, knee pain and foot pain caused by instability.
5. The HTP heel seat may relieve the pain in your feet. Placing a size small, no matter what size shoe you wear, will keep your foot from moving forward and limit the pressure on the balls of your feet and the jamming of the toes in the toe box. Remember though, if your toe box is too narrow or small you are going to have pain in your toes whether you are in heels or flats.
See your podiatrist if you have any pain that last more than five to seven days. We all have foot pain from time to time, but if you have persistent pain, numbness or burning for more than 5 to 7 days in the same spot; you probably have an injury. Simple solutions are available at your podiatrist if you seek help early. A delay in treatment can lead to needing surgery or worse……
i wear heels almost everyday and most of the time they are about 3 inch ones, which really dont bother my feet at all, but even though i’m used to wearing them, if i go to like a 5 or 6 inch on, they kill. my advice would be to make sure that when you buy them, that they are the right size for one, and also you can buy sole inserts with a lot of cushion, and those seem to help ALOTTTTT. other than that there really isnt much a girl can do, unless you wear them alot, cause then you just get used to the feeling and eventually the pain subsides.
I don’t wear heels, because they hurt. It amazes me that girls will put up with pain just to look good – here’s a clue, ladies – you don’t look “cute” when you’re hobbling around cuz your feet hurt!! The pain is your body trying to tell you something, and ignoring it is just asking for trouble. You can mess up your back, wind up with bunions or twist your ankle – for what? Most high heeled shoes look more like torture devices!
The best thing is to wear shoes that actually fit.