Are high heels bad for you? 7 pretty awful things that happen to your body revealed
Though we're all aware that they look good, it's not unsurprising that high heels are bad for you.
The world can be an unfair place. More often than not, good things in life have their consequences. Too much chocolate leads to an increase in weight, too many holidays lead to a decrease in your savings account.
And in today's article, I'm sorry to tell you that wearing high heels on the regular ain't doing you any good either.
High heels can cause damage to your body (Credit: Pexels)
Are high heels bad for you?
Though many of us love the feeling of wearing stilettos because they make our legs look longer - and give us a perkier butt to boot - our poor bodies are actually suffering quite a bit.
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Yes, they instantly make a lazy outfit "chic", but your knees and ankles and soles and a whole lot of other stuff are taking a hit for it.
Here are seven things that happen to your body when you wear high heels all the time.
1. Your feet may become deformed over time
'Hammer toe' is a serious side effect that basically means you'll get crooked toes from wearing heels.
It's when the foot gets deformed due to the pressure put on blood vessels and calves, causing the toe bones to be bent in a permanent state.
Stilettos can result in pain walking - even when wearing flats (Credit: Pexels)
2. Walking in flats will also become painful
Constant stiletto-wearers can experience pain even when walking in flats.
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This is due to their ankle and calf tendons becoming permanently taut – and shorter – over time.
Wearing high heels regularly can be bad for your hips (Credit: Pexels)
3. Your hips hate you for it
In order to stand upright without toppling over in towering heels, you stick out your chest, arch your back, and push your hips forward.
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This stance might attract the attention you're after, but it's also straining the outer muscles of your hips in an unhealthy way.
A heel can also create problems for your spine (Credit: Pixabay)
4. Your spine hates you too
Sitting in chairs all the time and staring at our phones already causes your spine to bend in unnatural ways.
Heels, in particular, will lead to a sore lower back. This is due to an uneven weight distribution caused by the fact that you're teetering on your toes and creating an awkward curve in your back.
5. The foot pain never goes away
Your feet are awesome little shock-absorbers, designed to be springy and capable of distributing your whole body weight. When you're suddenly putting all this weight on to balls of your feet, of course it's going to feel painful... And only get worse until you take the damn things off).
Wearing high heels can affect your joints in the longterm (Credit: Pexels)
6. The heel-strut walk you do can cause serious damage
The way you sashay around in heels might feel totally empowering, but your unnatural, brisk strides risk all kinds of things, including bone and nerve damage, as well as bunions, corns and ingrown toenails.
7. Your knee joints will become weaker
There's a reason many women complain about knee pain from wearing heels – the joints are put under immense strain, causing knee cartilage to pull and tear gradually – wearing it down so it can't do its job as a cushion properly.
The added load and exaggerated bend in the knee also weakens the whole joint, making you more susceptible to arthritis there in the future.
While your favorite heels might make you look great, they certainly aren't going to make you feel great in the long run. But if you just can't kick the habit, try mixing it up to only wear heels on special occasions. Heel now and heal later? The choice is yours.