High Heels Look Great But Carry Risks

High heels might look stunning yet pose serious risks. If you plan to wear High Heels, check out this topic. SO IF YOU FIND THIS TOPIC BORING AND LONG, DO NOT SKIP IT, IT IS A VERY IMPORTANT SAFETY GUIDE. Ignoring this guide could lead to injuries. Let me begin:

PART 1

The Killer Heels Shoes speak with forked tongues. They can be as reliable and comfortable as a nanny, or as dangerous and exciting as a good-time girl out on the town. The shoes on this page, from the top designers, are definitely for walks on the wild side this Christmas. Sexy and empowering, they have the ability to make ordinary women into supergirls like no other item of dress. What do they have that women find so enticing and men so awe-inspiring? Quite simply, high heels. High-heeled shoes - and the higher the better - force women’s bodies forward from the pelvis and make them move in a way they simply don’t when wearing a pair of wellies or flat pumps. It’s all to do with the movement of the derriere. It’s no accident that the Princess of Wales became a truly sexy dresser when she threw away her flatties and went to Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik for high heels. Legs look better and thighs feel sexier in high heels. But that isn’t the whole story. Shoes have special properties because they draw attention to the most erotically under-played portion of the female anatomy: the foot. Foot worship goes way back to the 13th century and beyond and was a central core of Chinese culture for generations. But what the shoes here are about is glamour: the amalgam of sexiness and sophistication which only the best designers get right. Compare a shoe by Gucci with a cheaper attempt at the same look (and designer shoes are expensive), and you see the difference immediately. Tinselly sparkle, in shoes as in everything else, needs a sure hand to stop it from slipping into naffery. A good high-heeled shoe has the rhythm of a piece of sculpture and the poise of a complicated feat of engineering. It must have balance and strength, as well as beauty. It also gives the wearer an erotic charge - even when every step is agony. Indeed the pain is part of the sexuality. When I researched my book, Shoes & Fashion And Fantasy (Thames & Hudson, £14.95), and talked to women of all ages, both here and in America, they all confirmed that wearing high heels, although very uncomfortable, puts them in charge. And bearing in mind the pain was a crucial part of it; it made them feel strong. Ask any designer what top models are always most concerned about as they get ready to go out on the runway in front of the glamorous but cruelly bitchy fashion crowd, and they’ll tell you that it is the shoes. Professionals like Naomi Campbell know that selling the clothes is about “walking the walk” - and success on that depends on the shoes and the way the body balances on them. And in a world dominated by the ruthlessly unsexy trainer, shoes like these have an added charge. When a woman puts on high heels, she has changed from being an amazon of the track to being a mistress of the sophisticated urban world. The tip-tap of the tiny but tall heels is the new sound and it brings a warning, It’s not for nothing that stiletto heels were named after the deadliest rapier of them all. These shoes are killers.

PART 2

Good or Bad? There seems, no, change that, there IS a general concensus that High Heels are bad for your feet, body, back and just about everything else, including your newly laid wooden floor! I have been reading loads of books on the subject, and also trawled a few web sites, and it’s interesting to see that some people actually maintain that heels can be good for you. That’s the first time I’ve heard that one. What I hope to do here, is put together a list of articles listing the positive side and the negative side of the arguments, so that you can make your own decision as to what you believe. Personally, I think they are probably bad, but I am still selfish enough to hope that women continue to wear them. Maybe not every day, but at least on special occasions. On the bad side, there are 2 Main topics that have to be read High Heels Cause Arthritis Millions of women could be risking arthritis in their knees by wearing high-heeled shoes, doctors have warned. Tests in which women in high-heels walked along a platform fitted with special sensors showed that their knees were put under sufficient strain to produce the wear and tear which leads to osteoarthritis. The area of greatest stress was on the inner side of the knee joint - where arthritis is most commonly seen. Osteoarthritis of the knee is twice as common in women as it is in men - and the researchers suggested in an article in The Lancet medical journal that high heels might be the reason why. The study was carried out by Dr Casey Kerrigan and colleagues at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They asked 20 healthy women with an average age of 36 to walk along a special platform in bare feet and then in shoes with two-and-a-half inch heels. Sensors under the platform, and cameras, recorded the movements of the women’s ankle and knee joints. The results showed that when the women were walking in high heels there was greater strain between the kneecap and thigh bone and in the inner side of the knee joint than when they walked with bare feet. Walking in high heels increased the normal torque forces at the knee by an average of 23%, which imposed a greater stretching force through the lateral knee ligaments. The researchers pointed out that animal experiments had shown increased strain of this kind led to degenerative changes. They write: “Our findings confirm that wearing high-heeled shoes significantly alters the normal function of the ankle. Because of this compromise, compensations must occur at the knee and hip to maintain stability and progression during walking. Our findings suggest that most of these compensations occur at the knee.” The doctors said the possibility that high-heeled shoes may contribute to osteoarthritis had not been proposed to date. They add: “Our findings suggest that further investigations are needed to evaluate a causal relation.” Image These Shoes Aren’t Made for Walking For a girl who has spent the summer schlepping around in a pair of clogs that verge on orthopaedic, being presented with a pair of four-inch spike heels was a rude awakening. But this winter, according to the fashion magazines, we are going to be very grown-up, and stiletto heels will become an essential part of every woman’s wardrobe. At the July haute couture show in Paris, Liz Tillberis, editor of the American Vogue, stunned onlookers when she turned up in spindly, creamy-white patent stiletto heels, looking incredibly chic and leaving fashion editors feeling like frumps in their trainers and sandals. Now that glamour has again become a fashion buzzword again, I decided to go with the flow, kick off my comfy flat boats and spend a couple o f days in the sort of shoes I thought only existed in Helmut Newton photographs. “Unless you have perfect balance, you’ll feel very uncomfortable at first,” warned Leila Cerullo, press officer for Vivienne Westwood, who used to practice wearing her heels at home before tackling escalators. Cerullo wears high heels almost every day – but sometimes, she admits, wears trainers into work and changes into her heels when she arrives. “Complete strangers stop me and ask how I can walk in them,” she says, “but if Vivienne can wear them, anyone can.” It was with trepidation that I pushed my toes into a pair of four-inch black stilettos from Faith Shoes and carefully stood up. Adding four inches to your height (I am 5ft 4in) alters your whole perspective on life. Suddenly I found I was staring people straight in the eyes. It felt strangely empowering

I stood out from the crowd beside a woman waiting for the Tube.

Wearing high heels changes your wardrobe choices. Trousers paired with stilettos can look too Seventies, short skirts appear too tarty, and long skirts seem middle-aged. The past six months of swimming and cycling haven’t given me delicately toned limbs; instead, I have solid, muscular calves. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my legs will never resemble those of supermodel Nadja Auermann, no matter how high my heels are.

I ultimately chose a knee-length dress. My first time out in high heels was to see The Last Seduction at the cinema—a movie about a femme fatale who wears four-inch black suede heels. There is one scene where she makes a quick escape and runs down the street without her shoes, leaving them behind on a busy pavement. Before the film started in a crowded pub, I noticed that getting served was much faster with high heels because I could see over people’s heads and catch the barman’s eye immediately.

The main downside is that heels slow you down; tiny steps are easier than long strides. I began looking for zebra crossings because I wasn’t confident about crossing roads without being hit. Stairs turned into obstacle courses.

Simply catching a bus became an entirely new experience. You can’t run for it, and heading to the upper deck is ambitious but doable. I found myself gripping the rails tightly as I went up and down—not very elegant, though neither is walking along with your head down, eyes glued to the pavement, hunting for cracked flagstones or potholes.

Walking down a street in broad daylight made me feel vulnerable; I was acutely aware of people’s eyes focusing on my ankles. When I saw myself in shop windows, I realized I was bobbing up and down like a duck. There is an art to walking in high heels—it might be easier than balancing on a tightrope.

Just as some people don’t look like smokers, not all women suit high-heel wearers. “No sensible woman would ever wear them!” someone remarked (but who wants to remain the ‘sensible’ one forever?).

Wearing heels is about confidence. When I visited a textile designer and found myself apologizing for my shoes, I knew I wasn’t yet cut out to be a stiletto girl.

The stiletto has unexpected allies. William Tomlin from the British Chiropractic Association isn’t worried by the trend. “Recent reports suggest heels are actually good for your back because they shift the centre of gravity,” he explained.

A heel causes the wearer to lean backward, enhancing the natural curve of the lower back.

So, besides being fashionable, could heels be beneficial? It seems I’ll just have to stick with it. No pain, no gain.

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PART 3

I found these pictures interesting regarding 6” Inch High heels; they relate to safety and understanding as well. Image Image Hope this clarifies things.