February 22, 2012

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What you don’t know about those shoes can wreck your feet!

Yes your new high heels are super sexy and they make your calves look amazing but are they healthy? Very few women equate the word “healthy” with what they put on their feet but it is an important question to ask. Are there any consequences to oh-so-high high heels?

Sexy calves that don’t work so well

High heels lack the support and structure feet need putting excess pressure on the balls of the feet. High heels also push the heel upwards for long periods of time which causes the muscles to lock and become stiff. Once high heels are removed the tendons are then stretched causing pain.

woman in high heels

Ugly Feet

Due to a tendancy for high heels to squeeze the toes together, bunions and hammertoes are some of the ugly consequences of  regular use.  It’s ironic that something designed to make feet look beautiful can actually cause unsightly damage over time.

Pain

It is said that “beauty is pain” but young women who live in high heels may regret putting their body through bottom of the foot (ball) and ankle pain, not to mention the damage to the Achilles tendon that can make the simplest task unbearable. 70% of older women visit a doctor due to foot pain undoubtedly caused by past poor choices in footwear.

Even though tennis shoes are the healthiest option for feet few women will throw away their stilettos. If you must wear high heels save them for special occasions and even then, limit the number of hours of wear. Inserting gel cushions and can help to offset pain, discomfort and future damage.

 

Filed Under: General, Shoes Tagged With: , ,

Shoes, Designed to Compensate For Bad Foot Design

The shoe has been designed for decades to compensate for perceived problems that we have with our feet. When people walk it sometimes hurts the heel so we compensated for this by adding padding to the heel. Many people have flat feet or fallen arches so we provide them arch supports that are built into the shoe or we apply inserts to accomplish the same thing.

Look at a shoe as it sits on the ground. The toe often points up just a little bit. This helps the wearer to take the next step. Your toes naturally do not point up this way because the whole foot can move semi-independently as you walk through a stride. Because the shoe is a solid structure it cannot move this way and the toe spring is added to not have to drag the toe constantly as you walk.

High heels cause the tendons to shorten for the women who wear them. Often during the spring women who have been wearing high heeled winter boots and then switch to flip-flops experience pain in their tendons as the tendons attempt to stretch back out for the flip-flops.

All this cushioning of the feet and the heels appears now to be all wrong! Chicago’s Rush Medical College did a study comparing impact on the knees between barefoot people and people wearing padded shoes. The surprise was that there was 12 percent less impact on the knee when these people were barefoot!

We still need to wear shoes to be socially acceptable in our society, but take your shoes off at home and walk around barefoot. It will give your feet a chance to breathe and to recuperate from the stresses placed on it by your shoes. If you can take your shoes off at work, then do so.

Maybe it will become acceptable to be barefoot again, maybe not. Nevertheless give your feet a chance at health, take your shoes off.

Filed Under: Latest Trends, Shoes Tagged With: , ,

Getting a Heel Up On Depression?

Women who wear high heels are easy to spot; they are walking with the “high heel strut.” Look down and there are the heels, forcing them into this unnatural walking rhythm.

Heels up to two inches are generally considered safe for the ankle and foot but stilettos are rarely safe. One uneven surface and a second of not paying attention and down she goes in a heap of pain or at least bruised ego. No matter how hot the outfit looks, when one is down on the ground grabbing their ankle, the mystique is gone.

Heel heights are going back up again. This is a pattern that seems to coincide with rough economic times starting with the Great Depression way back in the 1930’s. It seems that women use their heels to escape the pressures and to get a mental lift as well as a physical one.

The major issue with high heels is the corollary increase in foot and ankle injuries by the wearers. You might look good in the heels as they give you a step up on the competition, but wearing a cast or ankle brace definitely detracts from that look for the next couple months as your injuries heal.

If you have the need for height, keep the heel under two inches. Wedges distribute your weight better and you can wear higher heels in them. Stay away from stilettos.

Massage your feet after wearing high heels or roll them over a golf ball or ice. These tips help your feet to recover from the experience.

High heels can help you attain heights that you cannot naturally reach, but do so carefully and be good to your ankles and feet.

Filed Under: Latest Trends, Shoes Tagged With: , ,

Choosing the Right High Heel

Acrylic platform shoes.

Image via Wikipedia

Ladies know that not all high heels are alike. They vary in different ways including color, style, material, shape and height. With so many distinctive combinations that can go into a single shoe, no wonder women have such a hard time finding the right pair.

Believe it or not, that is only half of the story. Since high heels aren’t an everyday shoe, women have to consider additional factors when making a decision. With high heels it’s important for ladies to combine look with functionality. So when on the hunt they should think about the following circumstances.

Setting

Women don’t wear high heels on trips to the grocery store. Instead they don them only in certain locations. Setting is one of the most important considerations for choosing the right high heels. If they are for a special gala, then something a little more extravagant should be chosen. But if they are for the office, then a classic and comfortable pair would do well.

Outfit

Shoes aren’t individual garments, but one complimentary piece to an entire outfit. Thus, it is necessary to make sure that the right high heels match the entire outfit not only in color but in texture and style. Wearing leopard print high heels with an evening gown is a frowned upon in most circles.

Purpose

Most women have a look, or a purpose, that they are trying to project with their clothing. High heels can be an asset to advancing that purpose. For example, someone looking to have a little sex appeal can easily establish that with a bright red pair.

Comfort

It’s true that most women will gladly sacrifice comfort for look, but there should be a limit. Some high heels might feel awkward causing women to walk strangely, or a pair that is a size too big can potentially generate loud noises from continuously slipping.

Ideally, choosing the right pair of high heels is done by balancing look and need. But for the average woman it’s more fun just to buy a pair and wait for the need to arise.

Filed Under: Fashion, Shoes Tagged With: ,

Shoe Comfort

shoe fetishism: high heel shoe
Image via Wikipedia

A shoe is an item of footwear which is used as an outer covering for foot. It protects and comforts the human foot while doing various activities. There are different designs of shoes available in the market and it has varied from time to time and culture to culture. Shoes have become much stylish and fashionable than before. With the fashion, the design elements of shoes have also changed like before we get only flat shoes in market and now small heels, mid heels and high heels are in fashion. Likewise block heels, flats and boots are also used by almost all the youngsters now. Shoes are traditionally made using canvas, wood or leather but now petrochemical derived materials, plastic, rubber are also used. Even the jute and cotton type material is used for shoe making which increases the cost to be very high.

Parts of a shoe which helps in making it strong are the Sole: which is the bottom of a shoe, insole-the main part of the shoe which is lined in the interior and this absorbs the foot sweat keeping the comfort level of our foot neutral and giving a proper shape and position to the legs. Outsole: It is the layer which is directly in contact with the ground and it protects from external things like stone, glass pieces, rocks etc. The Heel: Which corrects and supports the position of the heel of foot, vamp-it helps the shoe to hold on to the foot. The materials used for making parts of the shoe vary.

Shoes can be maintained by polishing it; this is done for leather shoes and boots often used to clean the water content or the dust in shoes. Sanitization is done inside of shoes using some germicidal shoe trees or other cleansing methods to prevent the odor causing bacteria and to stop the growth of microorganisms.

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Shoes And Foot Issues

A pair of black patent leather court shoes wit...
Image via Wikipedia

Your feet often indicates your general health. Improperly fitted shoes can raise health problems for you and hence proper care should be taken while buying new shoes. Improper shoes hurt your feet as well as it creates knee problems. It also causes bunions, pain and deformed toes. Swollen ankles can indicate heart related problems, cold feet may be a sign of circulatory disease and more are on way. Studies prove that wearing of high heels for women causes much trouble like the Achilles of tendon shortens and causes a loss in the range of motion of your feet. They also suffer from severe heel pain, which causes bad back pain giving them disc problem in the hips. It is also dangerous for ladies who are conceiving. Wearing the wrong shoes also creates foot infections. So it is very important to buy shoes that fit properly as well as suits your foot. It is to notice that the shoes you buy are fit for you and it should be a type which eliminates your foot pain and gives you comfort.

While selecting shoes try wearing both pair of shoes because the size of both of your legs can vary and usually the one which fits the larger foot is bought. Walk a little to make sure they are the correct size you wanted and also it is comfortable. Your feet might be slightly larger in the day time and it is the correct time to buy shoes for you. Do not buy a tight pair of shoes as it might create a pain later on. Always try to get shoes that have rounded toes which will allow your toes a room to wiggle. The pointed shoes often create overlapped toes with severe pain. While your feet are paining exercises can be done to lessen the pain such as stretching your feet which in turn stretches your Achilles tendon which reduces the pain.

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Common Types In Men’s and Women’s Shoes

A variety of shoes are available in the market but we would not have given much time to find out what are the varieties and who are those made for. The comfort we get while wearing the shoes, boosts up your confidence to walk around. Hence the type of shoe we choose must be according to the event.

Men’s shoes are always categorized in the way how the shoe is closed. There are balmorals in which the vamp is sloshed in a V-shape slit and laces are attached to it. Lacing provides the shoe to be fit to the foot as well as provides support for the shoes. Another type of men’s shoes is derby which is also called as open lacing. In this the laces are tied to two pieces separately and connected with the vamp. A buckle and strap is also provided for the shoes for the support and comfort of the foot. This type of shoe is called monk straps. Slipons are another type of shoes which has no lacing or buckles and is used for casual wear.

Women shoes are mainly categorized as high heeled footwear in which the footwear raises the heel providing heel support as well as height to the foot, sneaker boots which is a variety of boot but with heels provided, mules which are backless that is no lacing is provided in the heels, ballet flats typically used for casual purposes with no heels or short heels.

In addition to this shoes are used for dance purposes like the pointer shoes designed for ballet dance, ghillies used for Irish dance, jazz shoes especially for jazz, tango shoes for tango dance, and likewise there are more and more varieties. The athletic shoes include running shoes, balling shoes, climbing shoes, skating shoes, walking shoes and so on. The varieties in shoes never come to an end and the demand for them is increasing like any other wearing item.

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