Breaking News: High Heels Are Bad!

By Alexandra SUHNER ISENBERG Editor-at-Large

Charlotte Olympia Pump, $715. Photo courtesy of Net A Porter

I got a funny press release last week from podiatrist Dr. Oliver Zong, forwarded to me by a friend. It basically says that there may be problems for women who frequently wear high heels. Wow! Next we'll hear that smoking and drinking is bad for you too!

The only logical explanation for this statement is that there are people out there that have not figured out that high heels are bad for you. Which is strange, because its pretty obvious that tottering around in 5 inch stilettos is clearly not going to do any favours to your back. But smoking isn't good for you, neither is drinking, or running marathons, but we all do those things for other reasons other than they are good for our health (well, I don't smoke or run marathons...) I wear high heels because, well, I love them. Any further explanation into my love of shoes will need a seperate post, or maybe a novel, to fully explain.

Anyway, the Doctor went on to explain ""If you hold a limb in a shortened position over and extended period, the muscles shorten." Researchers found that high heel-wearers' muscle fibers are on average 13% shorter than flat shoe-wearers, which explains why the high heel fans experience discomfort when walking barefoot or in flat shoes." That might explain why I always seem to trip or fall over when I am wearing flats. I can dance all night in a pair of 5 inch heels, but put me in ballerina flats or a pair of Converse and I'm close to breaking my neck...read more