Every woman these days has at least one pair of heels in her closet, be it necessary for a job or just a night out with friends, heels have become a common footwear choice. While we know how empowering it feels to wear a pair for heels and walk out like the world in your runway, wearing heels on regular basis comes with a lot of problems. To learn more about how your footwear choice might be messing with your health we reached out to Dr. Gurinder Bedi, a renowned orthopedic surgeon, in Fortis Hospital, Delhi.
According to Dr. Bedi, the type of shoes you wear has a direct effect on your body as the body weight transmission happen through your shoes. Wrong pair of footwear can lead to unequal distribution of weight which further damages the alignment of the foot. The shape of the heels is such that most of the body weight goes directly on the toes, especially high heels places the foot in a downward extended position which leads to the increase the pressure on the forefoot, this forces the rest of the body to compensate for the shift in the balance, it also compromises the blood circulation in the body. Dr Bedi suggests that if you are in a position that your job demands you to wear heels, platform heels are comparatively a better option. It is also important to stretch your legs every now and then after wearing heels. Prolonged use of High heels can lead to having back, knee, and even pelvis problems.
He also speaks about the most common footwear worn in India, that is the Flip-flops also known as chappals, even though worn my majority of Indians the chappals are a very poor footwear choice as it has no real support and the toes have to claw to the footwear to stop it from coming out of the feet.
Dr. Bedi suggests that it is best to wear sports shoes in the long run and even if you have to wear high heels it is better to stretch the calf and thigh muscles before wearing heels.
