Wearing high heels is the standard workplace footwear for women in the modern office world. If you are a woman who holds some post in the workplace, there is no escaping wearing high heels every day. The only time you can get a break from wearing high heels is when you get home or when you take them off at your desk when no one can see your feet.
Anybody who wears heels knows that high heels are not the most comfortable things to wear. Yes, they may complete your power-dressing outfit and will make you look capable at the office, but wearing high heels also causes several painful foot health issues. Plantar fasciitis, bunions, and callouses top the list of these foot health issues. These foot conditions may not be life-threatening but will make simple standing and walking a very difficult task.
Why Does Wearing High Heels Every Day Hurt?
Why does wearing high heels hurt so much? Yes, they look sleek, feminine, and can make any woman who wears them look more professional and able, but they are just such a pain to wear. High heels are not constructed with comfort in mind. Comfort was not at all considered when these things were first invented.
Women don't simply wear high heels. Women have to learn to wear high heels, and that in itself speaks volumes about how uncomfortable these things are. Having to walk, work, and perform everyday activities with your heels elevated inches off the ground is not how humans are supposed to live but somehow, women learn to do this in stride. To learn how to walk in high heels, however, comes at a grievous price. Women sacrifice comfort and, in turn, suffer various foot health problems.
As for more superficial issues, women’s feet are subject to blisters, bruises, chafing, tenderness, and bleeding because of the lack of cushioning for their wearers. High heels’ general shape and construction make them dig into their wearer’s feet.
Women who wear high heels for hours at a time every day of the workweek are most susceptible to more serious foot health issues. These issues are mainly caused by how high heels make a wearer carry their whole body weight solely on the ball of their foot. Your feet are designed to distribute your body weight evenly towards your heels, balls of your feet, and toes. High heels isolate all weight to be carried mainly by just the ball of your foot. Effects of continued wearing of high heels manifest as plantar fasciitis, metatarsalgia, bunions, and Morton's Neuroma.
Tips and Tricks to Save Your Feet from High Heels
Wearing high heels is quite a sure way to suffer several painful foot health issues. Constant stress and compression on your toes provoke fatigue, pain, cramps, swelling, and blisters. Fortunately, there are several tricks that you can do to avoid incurring these foot issues that help pain relief against high heel pain.
Here is a list of tips and tricks that one can easily follow to end the pain caused by wearing high heels:
1. Minimize the Time Wearing High Heels
Avoid wearing high heels if it is possible. Minimizing the time that your feet are in heels minimizes the occurrence of painful foot health issues. If you are not required to wear heels, then consider wearing more comfortable footwear that has more support for your feet.
If work requires that you wear them every day, there is also a loophole for this rule. The office never said you can’t take them off when you are at your desk. No one can see your feet when you are at your desk. Give your feet a break and take your high heel off when seated at your desk, and you will feel great relief instantly.
2. Wear Shoe Cushions for Heels
There are a lot of shoe cushions that provide excellent cushioning for high heels in the market these days. The challenge may be knowing and finding which ones to get for a more effective approach to ending foot pain caused by wearing high heels every day.
Worry not because we have some of the most effective pads for heels every working woman must have to combat foot pain.
a. Ball of foot cushions – Also known as metatarsal pads, these protect the ball of your foot from the tremendous weight high heels put on them. They relieve and prevent a variety of serious foot health issues such as bunions, plantar fasciitis, metatarsalgia, and Morton’s Neuroma. Choose ones that are made of soft gel material that is discreet and invisible when wearing heels.
b. Heel cups – Wearing high heels all day makes heels feel sore and worn out. Heel cups or heel insoles that are self-adhesive to the heel end of your soles can prevent sore and aching heels. Extra cushioning to your heels will go a long way in keeping your feet pain and issue-free. Choose gel insole heel inserts that do a better job of absorbing your body's weight.
3. Pamper Your Feet
Your feet work twice as hard as you when you are out there every day of the workweek and deserve some pampering more than once in a while. Self-massage your feet every other day or when you feel you need it. On days off, give your feet the pampering they sorely deserve. Go to a professional foot masseuse to take care of your aching feet. Take note that these treatments are not just for relaxation, but to revitalize your feet’ health by reversing some of the damage caused to them by wearing high heels every day.
4. Raise your Feet When you Get Home
This trick is a simple yet effective way of relieving pressure from your feet. Raise your feet higher than the rest of your body when you get home. Raise your feet against the wall or prop your feet up on the couch while lying on the floor.
Do this for about 5 to 10 minutes every day and stop the onset of several serious foot health issues.
Don’t Take Your Feet for Granted
Our feet work for us tirelessly, and we often take this for granted. Foot Health Issues are often considered relatively minor health issues but are not to be taken lightly. Our feet are what make us mobile, and taking care of them is crucial to our health and wellbeing. Arming yourself with the right information on how to protect yourself from the foot health issues of wearing high heels every day will pay dividends in having healthy feet for the rest of your life.
Leave a comment
This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.